Restoration is time-consuming. When we think of restoring old buildings (as we do in our line of work) or perhaps a work of art, we don’t jump to DIY. These are not quick “do-it-yourself” projects. This type of labor requires professionals. So it is, when it comes to my spiritual life. I don’t head over to the self-help section. Nope. This is not a job I can handle on my own—like doing electrical wiring or plumbing (and believe me, nobody would want me on those jobs). God is my go-to (be-all) professional consultant. And I need to consult Him everyday.

In my first article on restoration read here, I wrote about how God loves a project. He is in the business of restoration. Soul restoration. When He knocks on the door of our hearts, we have to invite Him in before he can start to do any work. Once we have greenlighted the project, He comes in with with the heavy machinery (the kind you need a license to operate). While the Lord does the heavy lifting, we do still have a part to play. We have been provided with a toolbox of our own.

Just as we don’t buy an old building to keep it the same, we need to be ready for God to make some changes in our lives. Am I willing to be renovated? This means the way I spend my time will change. I need to be ready to make reading the Bible a priority, almost a daily habit. In my 20’s, when I was trying to figure out this whole faith thing, I reasoned that I better actually read the Bible (like the whole thing) and not just the parts I saw on bumper stickers. Since then, I have read it from cover to cover, almost every year of my life. Just knowing what the Lord says does huge restoration work on our souls. As we learn His ways, down come some of the false ceilings and crumbling walls and we can start to see the framework God set up for our lives.

DEMO is always the first step in a big rehab project. Time for all the extra layers the space has acquired over the years to get ripped down. Old buildings have had many owners and often many uses. Depending on how old you are perhaps you have tried on some different personas over the years. We go through so many stages, good and bad, chasing after the wrong things, the wrong people. These stages can leave a mark in our thinking. I can still remember some of the lies people told me over the years that really colored the way I saw the world, myself and God. We need to take our thinking back to the studs. Get a clean slate and really dive into what the Word of God has to say about how we should think, live and treat those around us. The demo stage is messy and brutal as strongholds and negative thinking patterns get taken out to the dumpster.

Once all the old junk is moved out of the way (& this can take years); and you think you’ve sandblasted that pessimistic thinking out of your life . . . ahhh! there’s that mold growing in the corner again. I believe there is a demo stage of restoring our souls, but the maintenance is endless. That’s why I couldn’t just read the Bible through once and call it good. To stay on top of entropy (def: a measure of disorder; e.g., melting ice), I need to be constantly (daily is best) reading the Bible because old thinking and lies try to work their way back into my mind. I often think of it as feather dusting my mind; if I do nothing, just like dust, wrong thinking will build up. And just when you’re sure everything is sparkling clean the sun comes out and shows you all the corners you missed. Be sure to look under the furniture because dust bunnies love to hide out in the dark spaces.

What are some areas of your spiritual life and thought life that need to be demoed?

Maybe the way you think of yourself?

The way you think of God?

Or the way you relate to those around you?

How do you talk to yourself? Is it mostly negative and discouraging? What are some of the things you hear on replay? I’m doing a Bible study and one of the assignments was to write down how we think of ourselves. The adjectives I used were along the lines of not enough, lacking, failure. To my surprise almost every other woman I’ve asked about this has come up with the same type of words. Yet, when I look at the lives of these women, I think, “wow they got it together.” The enemy whispers to so many of us in the same way.

The warfare starts in our minds. It starts with how we think about ourselves and then it shows up in our words and in our lives. I often have to remind myself that I’m fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14), that God uses all different types of people (I Cor 12:4), that when I am weak, He is strong (Phil 4:13). A simple read-through of the Bible will show us that God does not use perfect people. Actually, apart from Christ, He uses exclusively flawed people. That alone stops some of those negative thoughts. Yup, I’m lacking, I can never measure up, I will never be perfect, but like that old building we’re rehabbing, despite all its flaws, we see its potential . . . and God sees ours.

When I can see God moving in my life, it’s easier to “feel” that He loves me and cares about me. It is when He is seemingly silent that I start to question His promises. I know He is a God of miracles and I believe He wants good things for me. Yet, when I’m in a time of waiting, I start to lose hope. I start to question what the Word says because I can’t see it in the physical world. I have to come to terms with my own expectations, my own time line, and my own plans for what I deem best. Often our faith is built in the “waiting” and faith is, after all, believing in what we can’t see, but know to be true nonetheless. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb 11:1) There is no doubt we live in a fallen world and for me there is no doubt God can work miracles in lives and hearts. The place I struggle is between those two points. How about you?

Just as a room needs to be demoed, my expectations of the how’s and when’s in my life need some demo work.

There might be some walls that need to come down.

We are made for relationships. It may not feel like it to some of us. I tend to self-isolate when I’m sad or angry. I don’t want to talk to anyone and that includes God. Sure I can do crazy, crying prayers in the shower or while driving, but I’m not really all that interested in the answer, I just want to feel better. I don’t really want to figure out how I got here (again!). But often God will use other people to speak to us and in turn He uses us to speak to other people. Thus, the importance of relationships. We help each other. Yes, we need alone time and time with God, but he pours into us so we can pour into others. His Spirit moves us to speak into a friend’s life or forgive or rejoice with someone. Apart from the odd hermit we live in community. We have to get along. This has really been tested lately in the world. If we are ambassadors of Christ, what does that look like? And (surprise again) we have different takes on that so how do we manage in truth and in love?

This is a lot of demolition work on our thinking and therefore on our words and our actions.

Are we willing to be taken down to the studs?

Do we believe God knows what is best for us? (This one is really hard for me.)

If those old buildings could groan and complain when we are ripping away the old walls and ceilings, I’m sure they would cry out—it is hard, painful work—but the end result is worth it. In our heart of hearts we know it is best. We can’t hang onto that old rotting stuff; we want it gone, we want to be made new. We want to be stronger and more solid in our faith, in our worth in Christ, in our value as a child of God. We want the little foxes of doubt chased out. We want the birds (of prey) that peck away at the corners of our thoughts to fly away. We want to be restored. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jn 10:10b

God will restore us. It is hard hard work. But the result will be amazing.

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Take Heart: Why Our Struggles are important

Playing the Wrong Notes

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We are in the business of restoration. We buy old buildings (that are usually sitting empty) and we revitalize them. Most people drive by these dilapidated places and either ignore them or think. . . what a shame that place has gone to ruin. We on the other hand pull over, get out of the car and look around. We peer in the windows and instead of seeing broken and ugly—we see potential.

You know who else is in the business of restoration? God!

He doesn’t drive by broken, ruined people and keep on driving. Nope. He pulls over to the side of the road and gets out. He comes over and peers in our soul and he sees potential. He sees someone who can be redeemed.

We recently bought an old elementary school. (It’s our second school.) I actually made a couple videos if you want to check it out. See school here (Warning: my first videos ever.) This project will need a lot of work. A. Lot. Of. Work. The building has sat empty for decades. The windows are broken, the doors don’t shut, the walls are crumbling . . . I could go on and on. Everything needs attention. It needs a complete overhaul. Most people who see the building get a kind of wide-eyed look of panic. Like this is so much work, is it even possible?

I can relate to this building. How about you? Have you allowed fear to blow through and knock out your windows? Have anxiety and worry moved in and begun building nests, wreaking havoc in the corners of your mind? Has life taken its toll?

Yet, God does not just do a drive-by. Instead, he sees what we could be; how much value we have even in our state of brokenness.

What’s exciting about the restoration of anything, be it a building, art work, or people—is the transformation. We all love a makeover story. If we bought the school and did nothing with it; well, that wouldn’t be noteworthy. The exciting part, the part everyone wants to see is the change. Sanded floors, painted walls, a whole new layout is what gets us talking. Show me the before and after picture so I can see how far you have come in the renovation.

We are all in need of a renovation. Sometimes it’s just the wear and tear of daily life. A baby keeping you up at night or maybe a teenager. New responsibilities at work that are out of your skill set. Caring for an aging parent. You are tired and could use a new coat of paint, but there is no time. Or perhaps storms have been brewing and you’re starting to take on water. A hurting child, a floundering business or a crumbling marriage and all you can do is stick a bucket under the leak.

Then there are tornadoes, hurricanes and fires. Where life comes to a screeching halt and leaves you feeling gutted. Tragedies, abuses and losses have damaged us to a point that we feel we won’t recover. It will take more than some weekend projects to restore us. Our faith has storm damage. All our defenses are down and we aren’t sure where to start or if we even want to start.

Yet, God is not willing to drive by us and shake his head. The opposite in fact, He is tenderhearted and full of mercy. He is the Master Restorer. He invented redemption. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jn 3:16 My husband and I get really excited when we see a cool old building that is in disrepair because we see the potential. God made you. He gifted you. He created you for a purpose. Your makeover through Him is meant to bring God glory. When we makeover an old building, we don’t say, look at what this building did? It fixed itself. No, we say look at what we did. We did all this work and now behold its beauty.

It is only through God that we can come into our full potential of who He made us to be. Then we can say, look at what God did in my life. I was broken and damaged and He fixed me. I could never do this outside of His power. The Lord not only patches the leaks, but puts on a whole new roof so the floods of despair do not overwhelm me. He chases away the vermin that nibble at my hope. He washes my windows so I can see the perfect view (of heaven) and he paints me in a fresh coat of joy. The Lord goes beyond just restoration and brings new life. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. . . 2 Cor 5:17 God plants trees so I can have the fruits of the Spirit and become a person God can use for His good purpose. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters . . .her leaf shall be green . . . and shall not cease from yielding fruit. Jer 17:7-8

Our school will become a home, a dwelling where people can be protected from the elements. We will do our best to make it beautiful, not only on the outside, but mostly on the inside (where it counts). God wants us to be a space for other people to go and feel loved and protected. I want to have a heart for others, an ear to hear my brothers’ struggles and a tongue to speak encouragement and truth. We don’t want to fix up that school and have it sit empty. And God’s healing and restoration work is so I can, in turn, provide a place of comfort and peace (that is, Christ through me) to those in my life.

Restoration is a process!

So is the work God does in our hearts.

He restoreth my soul . . . Ps 23

Follow along as I hope to write more articles about restoration. As we move forward on our school building project I can’t help but think about the different stages of rehabbing our life and hearts. When redoing a physical space we need to clear out the junk that has rotted and accumulated, causing more problems the longer they sit. Like a mid-century building, we too, need restoration—but in our hearts—to manage the upkeep of our souls and to be useful to others. But before a developer or flipper can do any work on a building, they must first purchase the property.

Do you know you were bought at a great price? We got a great deal on our school building, but God paid the ultimate price. The life of His Son. He paid in blood to own the deed to your soul. He said you are worth everything to me. I don’t care how ruined and useless you feel, I will pay top dollar for you. God sent his Son to buy all the property rights so we would all have access to his care. He is the Master Restorer, the Ultimate Caregiver and He can rebuild and repurpose your life like no one else. His services are available to all who ask. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28

Unlike a building on the side of the road, we must answer the knock on the door and say yes, come in and then everything will be transformed.

God loves a project.

He will come in to blast away the rot and take our hearts down to the studs, if we will let him.

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Drafts on Demolition (Soul Restoration Series part Two)