It’s funny how remodeling the house you live in makes you understand life better. At least it did for me. We bought a fixer upper when we got married, a 2 bedroom 1 bath home. Luckily for us, my husband could fix and remodel it. As we started our journey into marriage we had big plans and big dreams. But we lived day by day, step by step as those things we dreamed of became a reality.
In regards to our home, we started with things that needed fixed right away, weren’t safe or could potentially cause bigger problems. If you see something broken in you, you just don’t throw it away. A lot of times it just needs a little adjustment. We didn’t tear down the house but adjusted a few things. It was a livable house. It had potential just like we all have potential.
Let’s say there are broken windows. In our case, the windows weren’t broke but were old and leaked air from the inside. So even though they need to be replaced, we chose to focus on other areas. You know this is how God works on us. There are many parts to a house and there are many parts to us. So Randy adjusted them so they would be ok for now, but always planned to replace them eventually.
Inside of me were many places that leaked. They were broken and cracked –trust and hope, love and joy — they all needed to be fixed. But as I continued in this journey with God, he fixed things along the way. I found a trust in Him. I found hope in a better life. I found unconditional love and a joy on the inside. Let me say that it is people that hurt us and, ultimately, God uses people to heal us, relationships.
God brought a lot of good helpful people into my life. Were they perfect? No. But they were on this journey too. The journey to a better life. A journey of finding help and hope, believing that the promises of God aren’t just words in a book but real. The greatest person was my husband. He was patient and always reassured me how much he loved me. What helped him was his relationship with God. He prayed for me and talked to God about how to help me. Was he perfect? No. But he trusted in God and knew we would grow together and fix things along the way.
Think about remodeling the house. When you go to the lumber yard, get the supplies needed and bring them home, it just looks like a pile of stuff. But to the carpenter it is a part of the vision. It is what is needed to make this house into the vision in his mind. This is how God looks at us. Not the pile of stuff or the shack that is falling apart, but the finished product. He pours out his love, grace and mercy on us. Changing us little by little. The carpenter doesn’t throw everything up in the air and it lands on the broken parts of the house all at once but piece by piece by piece he starts.
Let’s don’t forget the power tools. Many of the fixing involves taking out the bad before you put in the good. Weaknesses in the frame, holes in the drywall, sometimes there were boards that had been chewed on by termites or just neglected areas of the house. Sometimes abuse of the structure left it needing repair. I am talking about the house and me. My weaknesses and damage from abuse and neglect. Lies that had chewed on my emotions and made me believe I was unwanted and unlovable, all need to be fixed.
The power of love and acceptance. Its funny, you don’t really feel totally loved with people who don’t really know you. What is great is when you have someone that knows everything about you and still loves you and wants you in their life. God is like that. He knows everything about us, all the good the bad and the ugly, and He still wants us. The scripture says that Jesus died for a world of unhappy, unGodly, messed up people. He didn’t die to make bad people good. He died to make dead people alive. We were dead, separated from God the Father because of what Adam did in the garden. But Jesus came to reconcile us back to the Father. God wants to take care of us and fix us. Not point His finger at us and tell us how bad we are. We already know everything that is wrong with us. Jesus came to give us life and life in abundance. Overflowing. Not because we earned it or deserved it but as a gift. He took our place on the cross. Paid a debt He didn’t owe. But we owed a debt we could not pay. Jesus took our place and gave us His. So we could run to the Father. His arms wide open to us, the broken and lost and dirty. Limping and crawling and bleeding. He is the healer of the brokenhearted. He can fix your heart, your mind, your emotions, and your health. He can fix your marriage, your kids, your finances. Give you hope and help. He promises to never leave us. Not like the carpenter who is a man. God is always on the job. He has everything we need to be restored. Everything we need to be whole. He has seen every tear we have cried. He knows every word and every deed we have encountered. He can wash away all the guilt and shame of a broken life.
The scripture says we are new creatures in Christ. Not just fixed with a band aid. But new, when we choose to believe, choose to invite God into our mess, choose to surrender to the one who created us in the beginning. That’s when life changes. The scripture says he has our name tattooed in the palm of his hand. Never to be erased. Do you dare to believe it? Today can be one day or day one. A new life is just a prayer away. Just say God I believe, I surrender. I believe Jesus died on the cross for me. Come into my life. I can’t do this without you. If you do that, then you have been born again. Saved. Welcome to the family!!