Renovations and Restorations

 Love a slow morning-coffee, rain, the Word and even a lil IG. Was catching up on one of my new Christian IGr’s and if I didn’t find a treasure. Picked up my study Bible to look up the scripture and it spoke to me but not in the way her translation spoke. I’m always amazed at how a little digging will uncover the sweetest treasures from a different translation. Thankful a slow morning allowed it and His Word is always always spot on. 

Without going in to details…I’ve found myself on a healing journey with many situations. On this journey the sweetness and presence of God is so very apparent. I’ve said before that sometimes His Word is like love letters to me. When I read them I know that the timing is perfect, that He has allowed the words to penetrate my spirit as only He can. The words don’t change, they are always there, I’ve read them before but it’s always amazing to me that the words I’ve read before seem to have life giving meaning right when I need them most. Today it was right out of Isaiah 58. While this chapter is usually used while speaking of fasting, the last few verses were healing for me today. 

“…Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,

    your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you where to go.

    I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—

    firm muscles, strong bones.

You’ll be like a well-watered garden,

    a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

    rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

    restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

    make the community livable again. Isaiah 58:10-12

The reassurance was weighty and needed today. Sometimes I get a little stuck in circumstances. I wouldn’t say my circumstances changes my hope and joy in God, but it most definitely affects my countenance with others, with myself. These words reminded me that God sees me, He knows what needs healed and why. He is more than capable of rebuilding in me what others, and the enemy have torn down and He will strengthen me when I feel weak. I think the “You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to rebuild the foundations from out of your past” spoke the most to me. How often does our past come to haunt us? Relationships and circumstances can leave some deep scars and leave us with some heavy baggage, and those bleeding scars  and baggage can affect every other relationship we have. And at the same time others we are in relationship with, bring their own scars that still bleed and have baggage that will affect us. The one thing we can trust is that God can use the hurts, and scars and He can rebuild even better than before if we tend to those hurts, scars and empty out the baggage. He doesn’t heal us over night, or stop the bleeding instantly. I think He desires us to learn from them, sit in it for a bit, to seek Him for guidance, seek godly counsel and not just throw a bandaid over a bullet hole, or rake things under the proverbial rug. 

From a construction standpoint-you can’t renovate or restore a house in a day -you have to do some planning, demolition, and cleaning out. However, as the scripture says-“you’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew” just like using the old foundation, and the old structure to rebuild a home. I love when I hear ‘that house has good bones, character’ meaning some old things can be used to make an even better house. As in renovating/restoring a house to be newer and better, God can use our old structure, our character and strength as well as old  hurts and yuck to make us new. And just like a house renovation/restoration the reno needs to be completed before adding new furniture, new curtains, new rugs (ie. relationships, material things) before it’s actually complete and livable. Trusting Gods timing in knowing when the “renovation/restoration is complete in me and that I’ll prayerfully be known as someone that His light shines in darkness, that i may be able to fix, rebuild and renovate because of my trust in Him. And Lord-allow the “Sonlight” to always bathe me and always, only You, show me the way to go.