Sometimes God Uses A Sledgehammer

The last few day's we've spent tearing apart our kitchen, what started as a simple fresh coat of paint and ended up with us tearing out cabinets, linoleum, part of a wall and subfloor. Unknown to us for the last year the water line behind our fridge has been leaking. As you can imagine it wasn't a pretty picture when we pulled the fridge out to paint and discovered water.

The damage was deep, but not as bad as it could have been. Now five days later as I sit here typing the kitchen is in shambles. For the last few days we have been pulling cabinets out and tearing out floor. Exhaustion is a pretty good description of how our muscles feel. Who knew wielding a crowbar and hammer could be so strenuous?

The house is a wreck- and its not going to get better any time soon (watch an out of town friend or family member is going to come for a visit or need a place to live). We're looking for new cabinets, deciding whether to tile it ourselves or hire someone, painting, and learning to survive with a hot plate and no kitchen sink (just keep telling me I'm camping). Thank you Lord for lots of coffee and a grill.

Sometimes God takes a sledgehammer to our lives. He guts us, tearing out the broken, rotten places. Many times we don't even realize they are there- and then he rebuilds us. The proper way, from the ground up.

He removes people who are causing leaks, he removes plans and dreams that we held dear- he wrenches the blackened, moldy pieces from us, and with all healing it hurts. But it must be done- if the problems go unresolved the bad places grow bigger and bigger until instead of one room its the entire house has to be torn down.

We are like broken buildings, giant fixer uppers- unless He repairs us, cuts away the bad places, rewires us, updates the plumbing the building is going to be condemned. Nothing worthwhile is painless or easy. But in the end it is all worth it. Just hang on to Him, He knows what He is doing. He won't leave you to molder away, and like every renovation the new creation is spectacular.

But to have the new, the old has to be taken down first. The sledgehammer may destroy, but in the long run, it also heals. It tears down, but it clears the path for something new to be built. He chooses one project at a time, and He tears it apart and rebuilds. When that is finished He moves on to the next and the next. It's a lifelong process, of sanding away the rough places to bring you closer to Him.