Renovated woman

 You’ve seen them—those Do It Yourself project books and TV shows featuring a perfectly groomed woman mortaring a tile backsplash or painting a wall without a speck of splatter. Let me warn you about the truth behind the camera shot—renovation is messy business.

  

I have to admit though, I have an affinity for fixer-uppers. It’s not that I am intentional about this, but if there are ten houses for sale in a particular area, my internal GPS will go straight to the one in need of repair. 

Perhaps it is because lived-in houses exude a well-worn comfort like soft cotton sheets or old jeans. Perhaps it is because they often occupy pleasant properties—ones with rambling shrubs, lofty trees, and overgrown flower beds. Or perhaps it is simply because I am compelled by a need to restore, to make order, and to make beautiful—God’s little handywoman imitating her Father. 

Fortunately, I am married to a patient and clever man who shares, or at least, bears, my vision. He went along with me when I bought a pink house--pink inside and out, but I almost lost him on this last renovation. This one cost us more than we anticipated, but it did teach me a lot of lessons, which I am happy to pass along. So for the next few blog posts, I'm going to share how to keep your husband, your sanity and your joy in the Lord while being renovated in the process of renovating, because God too, is in the renovation business.

He is making us beautiful. He is making us one with Jesus, the Perfect One so that our hearts reflect Christ’s love, our minds His thoughts, and our characters His character. But this is not always a tidy process, nor is it cheap. It cost the Father the life of His Son. It will cost us the right to our own self-interests. And we don’t give that up easily. The question is—are we willing to surrender ourselves to the Master Carpenter? 

He doesn’t cut corners or patch up old holes. He strips us to the core and builds us anew. Sometimes we get impatient and discouraged as we undergo this life-long process. 

 But slowly and surely, we begin to see the picture of His face on the walls of our house, and as we move from glory to glory we look to that final day when He “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory . . .” (Philippians 3: 21).