RENOVATION - TRANSFORMATION!

When we first bought our condominium years ago, we simply loved the view, but it required a lot of changes. It did not reflect the likes and tastes of the new owner; us! A father and son team, with the highest reputation for excellence, were immediately chosen to redesign and renovate! They moved in all their equipment and for three months we lived with chaos. We hadn’t just traded spaces and this was not being done while we were out! Together this team tore down, but with the purpose to build up. It could have been a very traumatic time for us, except for the fact that we willingly had given full control over to the master craftsman.

We lived in hope and expectation of completion of the project! Every new day there was something that either had been repaired, installed, removed, changed or newly created. We patiently endured. Some days, however, we were not so patient; when the supplies didn’t arrive on time and we had to wait; when we had to change a decision because what we wanted was simply not feasible; when the builder had another place to work that took priority over ours. Finally, upon the completion of the job, we were immensely pleased and proudly displayed to our family and friends the finished work. What excellent craftsmanship! Why, except for the original blueprint, this condo was a total transformation. We praised and honoured the contractor team for its meticulous attention to detail, for the love of working at what it does best, its excellence and for always having our best interests at heart. Both had done a wonderful job! It was worth it to cope through the chaos to achieve the final results. It didn’t just look good; it served our family as a more practical and comfortable home.

Renovating a condo is only short-term and temporal, but transforming a life is a constant process and eternal. There were some similarities though. Once we give our heart to the Lord, He moves in to do a huge renovation job. After all, we have changed ownership! As part of the process of transformation, the Lord will send sub-contractors under the direction of His Holy Spirit, whose work may turn our life, suddenly and unexpectedly, into total chaos! Perhaps you can relate.

When some particular changes needed to happen in my life years ago, everything seemed to fall apart. Weren’t the changes going to be very costly on my part? I didn’t want to realize that I had to be totally broken; like the condo I had to be ripped apart before He would put me together again. This had already been in His overall purpose and plan as years prior I had willingly given Him complete control. I simply had to increase my trust and realize once again that He had my best interest at heart. He is a Master at meticulous detail. He puts such love into His creations!

I don’t know about you, but even now, every day there is something in my life that gets repaired, changed, installed, removed or newly added. For many, dealing with a damaged foundation needs to happen first. Although ‘the project that is my life’ is a big one and has already taken much more than the three months it took for our old condo, I live in the constant hope and expectation of a glorious completion someday. I am truly grateful to God for the chaos He ordained in my life as a pre-requisite for change.

Meanwhile, please be patient! I am still a work-zone and there will, without a doubt, be difficult, complicated and chaotic times. Perhaps the Lord will still use you to affect further change in me. Or, possibly me in you! Think about it, to transform a life takes a whole lot longer than renovating a condo! And our purpose?

“For we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10

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