The past two weeks have been full of work, hard work but the fun and adventuresome type. I moved in to a beautiful old house with a ton of character and so much potential... It has beautiful wooden detail work and wood floors throughout the whole house, romantic fireplaces and the cute type of windows that you always wish you could have in your house. And... can we just talk about the stinking kitchen! It is gloriously enormous! And it is all updated with new appliances, nicely tiled floors and granite countertops. My heart is to make this a community house for young women, a safe haven to know and be known as well as a home where we can propel each other into the deeper things of God.
When I moved in, this house was a WRECK! I mean, an absolute beautiful mess! For example, there is a really cute sunroom in the back side of the house, I plan on turning it into a little prayer and worship room but it was used as a storage room for a few years. In that little sunroom alone I pulled out 10 bags of trash! Not to mention all the random items that are still in the garage waiting to be claimed. Everyday I have picked a room to spend the day cleaning and organizing. I even cleaned out the flower beds and planted a small garden. Last week I finally hit that mark where I could take a deep breath and say.... "Now I can call this home!"
As I was cleaning this beautiful home, I saw it as a picture of how the Lord deals with us. He knits us together so tenderly, with so much creativity and joy in our mother's womb. As we learn and grow we allow the enemy to come through our choices, circumstances and culture and flub everything up with his trash and muck and dirt. The goal of the enemy is to steal, kill and destroy every ounce of promise and beauty possible. He does a good job, sometimes we have to dig really deep beyond the surface of our hearts to find an ounce of hope. But, if we open our hearts to the Lord and allow all of that muck and junk to be exposed to Him, He will come with more tenderness, with more joy and excitement than you can imagine and clean out those broken and dirty places. He knows the beauty He placed there, He sees beyond all the crap, all the pain, all the bitterness and sorrow. He is more than willing to restore those rooms of our hearts if only we are willing, if only we can come to that place where we surrender and acknowledge our need for Him to make the wrong things right.
Sometimes I look at my heart, see the darkness and want to give up... I absolutely despise my tendency to have a bad attitude when I don't get my way. Or worse yet, my ability to manipulate situations to get what I want, sometimes I just feel gross about the way I respond to people. My heart is SO DARK! What I love about the Lord though is that He sees beyond the darkness because He made me, He already knows the potential that He placed there Himself and He is committed to drawing it out. I am dark but He sees the lovely! Oh, what a privilege! To be seen as lovely by the Creator of the universe!!!
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified!
Romans 8:28-30
I am setting my eyes on the things above, and relying on His restoration power to bring me into fullness of LIFE in Him!
I am THANKFUL for His grace today!
No comments:
Post a Comment