House Renovation {part 1: the den}

If you've been with us long enough you've probably gathered in your mind that Justin and I have lost ours. In just a matter of days we will have been married for 6 years and in those 6 short years we have lived in 6 different houses. The house we currently reside in is the youngest of those 6. We're not totally crazy, we have owned and renovated only 4 of the 6. When we moved to Dothan last summer we had a lovely lot that we fully intended to build a lovely house on. However, as we're taught in Proverbs 16:9, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps", our plans were not His plans and due to some underestimating of the expense involved with building a house (and actually having dirt to build it on) we determined building wouldn't be a wise decision. We truly feel the Lord confirmed our decision in many ways. So we sold the lot and the search started for a house we could make a home. We aren't really new house people so I'm not sure what we were smoking when we thought we'd build a house... oh yeah, Erika talked us into that one! We always joked that if it doesn't have termites, wood rot, plumbing problems, shag carpet, old wiring, etc., etc., etc., then we are definitely not interested. We looked, and looked, and looked, and looked... you get the point. And then one Wednesday night after church we decided to "drive by" this house. We had seen it before but not given it much thought. It was on the market for well over a year and half (maybe 2).

So we looked and this is what we saw...

And then we turned the other way and this is what we saw... (minus "Red" the painter who gave us the most astronomical painting quote you could ever imagine... I think he was scared of the task and thought "I'll bid so high they'll run the other way"... we did!)





Honestly, it was one of the ugliest things I'd ever seen. The flier advertised "designer vertical blinds in every window". I do believe that the words designer and vertical blinds are oxymorons. The room pictured above is what we call the "den"... it is the room you walk into from our side entrance. The carpet was white, the walls were stained very dark, the "little foyer" area you see pictured above was covered in corduroy wallpaper. There were vertical blinds everywhere... and yet despite all of these flaws we were still drawn to the house. We both saw such potential in it. This is where I go deeper so hang with me PLEASE...

We have a good friend, Tommy Tolleson, and from my understanding the following ideas originated with him so I can't take complete credit for them, but I can whole heartily agree with his assessment and evaluation of taking something old and making it new.

There was something about this house that intrigued us. We could see past the ugliness of it's emptiness, windows, walls, floors, cabinets, bathrooms, ceilings... shall I go on? We knew from past experience that we could do "something" with it. Does any of this sound familiar to you? I'm hoping so and if not I hope that you'll read carefully and consider this comparison. What we (anyone, not just us) can do to a house, the Lord can do to a person's soul. He can take something old, ugly, worn out, sad, lonely, empty, angry, and sick and make it a new creation. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" A "heart renovation" is an eternal renovation. All the money and effort we have poured into this house we know will not last, we know will be outdated, we know will fade; but what the Lord can do to a person's heart is eternal. So, as I prepare to show you what I think is a dramatic renovation, I hope in your mind you will be reminded of what a dramatic renovation our Lord can do in a person's heart. It's about a billion times more shocking and dramatic than a simple coat of paint on walls and trim. I also hope that you will be encouraged to think of things in your life (whether it be a home, a relationship, or whatever) that could benefit from a "simple renovation". We live in a culture that is so driven by consumerism that we have trained ourselves to think that we always have to have "new" things, when I'm convinced that what we already have or what is used can be just as good if not better! I'm thankful that we have a gracious Savior who looks at us, sees our ugliness and decides He can "work" on us, rather than toss us to the wind! I've been stalling on posting pictures of my house because I keep thinking, "well, I'm not really done yet and there's still some crap in the corner" but then as I type this I'm reminded that similar to how I will continue to work on this house, the Lord continues to work on us and truthfully, this side of Heaven we will always have "crap in our corners". So, without further adieu... the den after pictures!

Stay tuned... more rooms to follow!

{by the way: if you live in a new house, are building a house, have new things, etc... please don't think i think any of those are "bad" in anyway... i am just simply making a point that this house sat here empty for so long and no one was able to see any potential in it. there were a handful of people who had looked at thise house and said, "you bought that house!!??" when i told them which house we had purchased. i wish they could see it now! :) }