The Master Fixer Upper

These days HGTV is bigger than ever. There are tons of reality shows about flipping houses or restoring and renovating broken properties. We LOVE to see fixer uppers and flippers remodel and build something more beautiful that we could ever imagine.  But what does that say about us as humans? I think it says that we ourselves long to be wholly remade….

I knew 10 years ago that God was calling me to share his love and hope with broken people through counseling. I never could or would have imagined then the things that would break me now. The truth is, it’s impossible to live in this fallen world without experiencing pain and loss. People get sick. Relationships fail. Innocence is taken. We are a people who experience grief. Sometimes we are sufferers like Job, without understanding. Other times we make poor choices and refuse to listen. BUT I serve a God who turns mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11) and who restores what has been lost (Joel 2:25).

The One True and Living God is a God who RESTORES!

Throughout scripture we see the redemptive and restorative work of God. One of my favorite displays of such grace is the story of Joseph. Favored by his father, but hated by his brothers, Joseph was a victim of his own family. His own siblings plotted and schemed for his life, decided to throw him into a pit and then sold him like property. As a slave he was promoted, but then thrown into prison unjustly. God never left Joseph in his despair. He was working things together behind the scenes in a way that Joseph could not see. God used Joseph to interpret dreams and he was eventually promoted to second in command in all of Egypt. Joseph became a husband and a father and was even reunited with his own family. He became a vessel for God to use. He was being remade.

You see God’s plan always has purpose. God says he will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born (Isaiah 66:9). He also says there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3L10-11; 14).

“I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. ¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end […] And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.“

Did you catch that?

Let’s read it again….God’s purpose is that people should fear him.

Earlier I mentioned Job, a righteous man who suffered without understanding why. Job is recognized for his response in the midst of crisis. Though he suffered greatly, he never blamed God. At the moment grief struck his home and he lost all of his children at once, Job fell to the ground and worshiped God. Why? Because He feared God. Job knew that even in the depths of suffering, the love of God is greater still. He understood that God is still good.

Friends, lately I’ve been overwhelmed by God’s goodness and I know I myself am in a season of being rebuilt. I am witnessing the restorative work of the Father and amazed at the way He pours out love and grace on His children.  Everything that has been lost in the past year is slowly being restored.  I’m so in awe of how God has creatively worked to bring about a new job, new friendships, a new home, a new bank account, and the celebration and affirmations my heart needs that were withheld for so long. He is in the process of planting new visions and new dreams. And He has put me in a position where I get to see the restoration of His divine hand in so many lives every day. Together, we are being made new!

I think we as people are a lot like old houses, sometimes weathered by floods and storms. Maybe it comes in the form of a financial crisis, a miscarriage, a job loss, an illness, abuse, or maybe it’s broken relationships with broken people. Maybe it’s the loss of a dream you once had. Can I let you in on something wonderfully full of hope?  God is the Master Fixer Upper. He not only uses the storms of life to break us down, but He commits to lovingly build us back up into a new likeness of Christ. We are his remodel project daily! He makes us more beautiful through the refinement of suffering and we become his masterpiece. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.“ (Ephesians 2:10).

Remember today that you belong to the Master and that He has a great purpose for everything you face. He is a loving and merciful Father who sees your pain, feels your hurt, and knows your wounds. He knows your fears and hang ups. Each one is like the siding of a house, weathered by what you’ve endured, but God lovingly takes it up and lays a new. You are safe in His hands and loved in His arms. You are made for a purpose and God will faithfully fulfill every bit of what is meant for you.