This week, I have all kinds of studs showing up at my house. Tall, strong, rugged, towering studs. I’m not talking about the Matthew McConaughey kind of stud, I’m talking about the load bearing kind, the type that hold my home together.

We are in the process of renovating our new home. That’s the end of the good part. The idea of a remodel is really fun. The reality is a reno project is NOTHING like the HGTV shows depict where everything is immaculately finished and in perfect working order in under a week. Nope. This process is going to take months upon months, upon months….

I’m finding that I identify with the process. Spiritually, I relate to the renovation. The whole course speaks to me as I’m in a new physical space where our new-but-old home and I are growing, stretching and reaching for something new and different, together.

This dated home still has the ability to be something beautiful. Her renovation is a painful process of pulling out things that function just fine in the world but there is a proven better way. It’s hard to see her completed in her glory but my trusted contractor has the vision. He can see her potential. He can envision the beauty of her outcome.

My own life’s construction options, to a certain degree, have been limitless. Some of my choices have lead me to design disasters. Early on, those poor choices left me with a shifting foundation. I understood I had great potential but was crumbling under the weight of my rusty heart, dusty soul, weakened will and fading facade….in a word, I was unfinished.

Midlife, I had an intense desire for an overhaul. I longed for a professional to come in and just gut the place… start over from scratch. I was reaching for anything and everything that would fill the aching and empty square footage; everything until the day I came across a carpenter’s ad printed in red.

His area of expertise was just what I had been searching for: Restoration. His business motto? Guaranteed to make all things new. His design plan? To co-invest for the restoration of His redeemed image-bearer. His work was guaranteed! All I had to do was show up and knock on His door. Not only did He open up after hours but He invited me in and spoke to me about His very specific and intricate remodeling plans. Plans to give me hope for a future.

What I didn’t know at the time was that His Father was a brilliant architect who He had spent 20+ years of His life apprenticing under. This humble carpenter broke it down for me in explaining that every building must have an architect and that in this world, I would find two different types, God and man.

Truly, man made designs are created to withstand harsh and environmental conditions that have the potential to stand the test of time. But God is the designer of life built with the purpose to withstand all of time. The bible says every house is built by someone but God is the builder of everything. Ultimately, I decided to go with God’s blueprint, mainly because I was perusing the market for a towering shelter. A place of refuge with a solid foundation that would provide peace and security for a lifetime.

I struck gold in finding an honest and reliable contractor; one true to His word. Whether an individual life, a dead and decaying dream, a failed relationship, a broken heart, or an entire planet, He has a plan for restoration. He transforms broken things back to their original design. He can fix broken bodies and relationships. He is more than capable of bringing beauty from the ashes. I’ve seen Him turn mourning back into dancing, and give back double blessings to the places that the storms of life left devastated. In every area of life, He has a solution and that’s about as load-bearing studly as you can get.

We have to know the heart of God well enough to hope beyond measure. Well enough to not place restrictions on His hope infusing building plan. We are called to participate in our restoration process by submitting to being under construction by the Master Builder. To quote John Eldridge ”when the disciples saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, they got a peek at His glory. He was radiant, beautiful, magnificent. He was Jesus, the Jesus they knew and loved—only more so. And you shall be glorious as well. Jesus called himself the Son of Man to state clearly that He is what mankind was meant to be. What you see in Jesus is your personal destiny.”

So here’s the thing: You get to be yourself – only more so. Because God had a very definitive and unique person in mind when He built you. For you are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them. You are His masterpiece and rest assured He doesn’t make design mistakes.

You are a beautiful work in progress, prefabricated to be just like Jesus. Hang on to that promise. Let him knock down the walls, lay down new flooring and bring you back to life with a fresh coat of paint and windows built for freedom. Trust the process that flows from His very nature knowing that His nature is unchanging. He has the vision and He knows exactly how to handcraft you to your greatest potential…. as a grand city on a hill, shining as His superstructure of glory. Stand on that firm foundation and nothing less. ❤️