If you've ever lived through a remodeling project, you probably have a serious appreciation of the hard work involved in taking an old, dilapidated house and transforming it into better-than-new.The way I see it, anyone can move into a brand new house. But remodeling takes a willing investor with a keen eye for potential...someone prepared to put a lot of hard work into a house nobody else wants. Done right, the results are a gorgeous old house with character, yet filled with all the new stuff you wouldn't want to live without. The before and after photos are amazing, and no one who visits your house can believe that it ever looked like that before.
It's truly a labor of love.
My husband and I were crazy enough to take on such an endeavor back when we were young and willing to invest some serious elbow grease. We had purchased a tiny 2 bedroom, 1 bath, stinky, old, sorry-excuse-for-a-house--because it only cost us $55,000.
It needed a new roof, new windows, a garage, new carpet, lots of paint, and oh--we had to move the hot water heater out of the kitchen. Did I mention I was pregnant when we began?
We ended up knocking down walls and adding some extra rooms, almost a total do-over. For seven months, we stressed, sweated, painted, worked far too hard and slept far too little. We watched in amazement as our old shack finally began to turn into the house of our dreams. Yes, it took longer than we thought, and cost more than we planned. But in the end, it was worth it.
It occurred to me a few weeks ago as I stood before the congregation at my church giving my testimony for the first time, that God does this very thing. He sees our inherent value, even though we are broken, stinky people in serious need of restoration. He deems us worthy of His time and investment, even when others aren't willing to make the effort.
Though it's a long, arduous process, Jesus, with His keen eye, restores us to better to better than new. We wind up beautiful, yet functional and filled with His character. When we share our amazing before and after stories, no one can believe that we ever lived like that before, because our hearts are all sparkly and fresh and new.
It's truly a labor of love.
I'm so glad for all the improvements God has made in me, and that He continues to lovingly restore this work in progress.
19 comments:
Keep telling your story. For every door God opens there is someone waiting to receive the hope!
You sound like my husband and I. We bought a home in PA years ago for 10,000 but it took us ten years to do any work on it. When we finally gutted it and fixed it up, we sold it in time to pay off our own home and move to FL.
Besides that, God is doing a major construction on us here now!
Julie,
What a great analogy! I am so thankful that God puts in the time with to improve, remodel and refine us because I sure can't do it on my own.
I've never tackled a whole house remodel, but we've done several smaller scale remodels. Each time the hard work was definitely worth it...just the sense of pride to say "We did this."
That said, I would love to move into an older house that's been completely remodeled BEFORE I move in. I wonder if part of me wishes the same for my spiritual transformation.
Blessings, my friend.
Kelli
Good one, Julie. There are many times I see mold has grown back in my dark corners. Then God takes His "scrubbing bubbles" and starts cleaning again. Thanks for the reminder to keep an eye out for unkempt places.
Blessings to you and for your sharing ministry.
What a difference it makes when JC is in the house! I know your testimony touched hearts.
My husband is a real handy guy and we are known for our fix it up projects. I think we are almost out of that stage though...after we finish the crown molding, last bathroom update, replace windows...you get the picture: )
Like old houses, most of us are quite the complicated work in progress.
Blessings, andrea
I hear the song in mind, "Our house...is a very very very fine house." So glad God made our house everything it is.
Hi Julie, lovely post. Never thought of myself as an old house, like what Andrea said. I know the Lord is working on me to get me back to the original state, before the hurt, the jealousy, the anger, the disappointment. I can see it all. But sure hope he is not going to waste his time or that I will end up disappointing him for all his effort. God Bless
loved reading your blog, came to you through sande, why is it we always choose to renovate whilst pregnant? Gods restorations are the best, now thats a reality Tv show I'd like to watch. Lxx
Filled with His character... What a wonderful thought. Great analogy, Julie!
I love it. I never thought about it that way before. How true. On another note, I finally have found the direction the Lord is leading me. Talking about taking longer than expected!! It's exciting. Hope all is well. We need to catch up.
Love that he is doing a work in so many I love right now. It literally takes my breath away to see what God is specifically doing in the life of my brother. Thanks for sharing this beautiful post!
More than once I've said that when Jesus entered my life He did an Extreme Makover, Soul Edition.
He seems to have an afinity for choosing what looks like it's got the least potential and crafting a masterpiece.
We've done the do-over thing several times.
Are we crazy or what?
There's just something so compelling to me about an ugly house.
I guess God feels the same way about us.
He sees what we can become.
Don't you just love that about Him?
Sweet dreams.
What a beautiful analogy! I can't imagine tackling a big house restoration and really admire people who have the time and energy! But it's so true that God invests so much in us! Makes me have a very grateful heart today! Thank you!
Julie, this is such a good analogy and so true isn't it? Just like we keep working on our homes, He keeps working on us. Blessings Clella
Great story. We are all such a work in progress aren't we? Thank God, He wants to re-create and refine us. Such a hopeful message here, Julie
Good post. I had it likened to an old painting with all the layers of dirt and grime to be cleaned off. One layer at a time we get closer to what God's picture of us is. :O)
Oh Julie..I like this.. thanks for stoppin by.
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