A few weeks ago I threw a party for my son’s first birthday. As I started to think of ideas and plan a my decor I looked around my house and was horrified. We’ve lived here almost two years and I don’t feel like I have a single room exactly how I want it. I don’t have my backsplash up in my kitchen because I didn’t like what our builders were offering and I just knew we’d be able to get what we wanted up pretty quickly. There are areas in our living room where we repainted our baseboards and some of the white paint got on the walls. While it happened I thought, ‘Oh, no problem. I’ll fix that during nap time one day.’ Well we’re about 600 nap times in and I still haven’t fixed those little areas. The fabric on our relatively new couch is pilling. Honestly, to say it's pilling is putting it kindly.... its basically shedding itself and I’m currently waiting on approval for new cushions from the manufacturer. So my guests will have to sit on that, I guess? I have beautiful dreams for my dining room. Gorgeous light fixtures. Shiplap. My great aunts silverware displayed in mason jars. Stacks of white dishes displayed above the buffet. None of that is currently up, and while it doesn’t look horrible the way it is now... when I walk in there I know what it could be. It could be amazing.
As I scrutinized every square inch of my house I realized, it’s a fixer upper. No, its not an old, abandoned house in Waco, Texas that Joanna and Chip will turn into a dream house, but it's my home to fix for my family and I will be doing that for the rest of my life no matter where we live. My job will always be to create a home for my husband to come home to everyday and for my children to launch from. Even though I will do that in a physical dwelling I know that even more so I will do that in my own heart. I will be what my husband comes home to and I will be the place my children leave when they are grown. I am their “home” and that is a weighty responsibility and one that I’m sure I will fail at on a regular basis. The truth is, I am the real fixer upper. I am the one that is a mess. Sure, I have some of my stuff together. I may have a good color of paint on the walls and maybe even pretty hardwood floors (covered in crumbs, of course) but there is work to be done. There are things to be torn down and things to be built up. There are things tucked away in the back of my closets that need to be exposed and thrown away.
So even though I believe it is okay to dream about my house covered in shiplap and plan out ways to finish all of my house projects; please, Lord let that NEVER be more important to me than what you are trying to do INSIDE OF ME.
I’ve seen every episode of Fixer Upper and love Chip & Jojo! I’m basically a not-creepy groupie, if that is a thing. I’m always amazed to see how they turn something horrid into something beautiful every single time; even when it seems as though the property is too far gone. The whole concept of a fixer upper is so much like us, don’t you think? Sometimes we look a lot like the abandoned house. Our foundation is weak and stuff is crumbling all around us. But the good news is that God will not leave us like that. He is the ultimate restorer, builder and decorator. He doesn’t have a budget and He never gives up. He meets us where we are and He fixes us.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. - Philippians 1:6
**If you look at the picture above you can actually see where I need to touch up the paint.**
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