This old house in the pictures above sit in the pecan orchard I like to take my walks in. From Day One, I have seen her beauty shine. Beyond the broken places. Behind the weeds trying to choke her out, her beauty remains.

So many days as I walk, I am drawn to her. I feel pulled to come and have a seat. To rest. To Be Still and listen. This was one of those days.

So I carefully climbed up to sit on the uneven and tattered steps. I begin to ask Him, "what is it Lord? Do you have something I need to see or hear? Or am I just to be still for a moment?"

After a few minutes of trying to just BE STILL, my eyes were wandering all over. I was seeing all the broken and battered places this poor girl has sustained.

This house was once a big, strong & beautiful home. There once was love and laughter I am guessing. All was beautiful with no worries.

Then one day...abandoned! She was left to care for herself. The rains poured down on her, helpless. The years of storms and sun have taken it's toll on her. There were many years she was hidden from everyone.

​Did she enjoy the seclusion or was she desperate to be seen? She has been battered and beaten down by time in this life. She is no longer the strong beautiful structure she once was....because Life Happened and it left her bruised and broken. She has been robbed of her insides. She has been choked by the weeds of normal life.

But then one day, Someone began to make a path. Someone started cutting back the trees and then the vines that had her wrapped up. She was opened up to the world once again. As tattered and broken as she was, now she was there for all to see.  

The once beautiful home was uncovered. Every visible broken and battered piece of her could not be hidden any longer. People said she was not worth keeping and advising to just demolish what the hard life of abandonment & neglect had started.

What would I see? What would others see? Would we only see the battered and broken? The tattered and torn of what appeared on the outside, or would we look to see more? Would I care to know all of her? The inside as well as the outside?

I was curious and decided to carefully look to see what was inside. I wanted to know more of her.  I thought she was beautiful. What I found amazed me! I carefully dodged the unsteady boards and holes, I pulled on the old door that was stuck and made my way inside. 

What was once a picture of perfection, was now littered with trash, critters, old furniture, mattresses and whatever else you could imagine. But I chose to look past that and try to see her 'bones'. Her true self at the core.

It was evident she had not felt beautiful in quite a long time. If her walls could have talked to me that day, I am sure they would've said..."I'm past my good. My time has gone and I am worthless now. See, just look around. Too broken. Too battered. Beyond repair."

That is what I felt this old home saying to me, but I saw beyond all that. I saw what once was. I saw what could be. I saw and admired the unattainable 12"+ real wood molding that lined the top and bottom of the walls! I saw the 12-14' ceilings in the rooms. I looked under the peeling wallpaper to see ship lap that made the walls that are now imitated. Intricate molding around the doors, transom windows all around the front door. So beautiful in it's beginning and beauty still able to shine thru all the neglect even today.

​She wanted show me the deeply buried beauty within. For me to see beyond the tattered and trashed part, but to her core. 

I realized then, thru my cant-sit-still, wandering eyes, how much we all are like this old house.

See, we were built absolutely beautiful and exactly as the Master Carpenter wanted us to be in the beginning. Over the years, life brings the storms as well as the beautiful sunshine. Both can damage us if we try to take care of it all on our own. Then.  is when we feel our beauty begins to break. The strong parts begin to feel battered and bruised. We begin to believe we are beyond repair. No restoration could help us now.

BUT GOD CARED! He sent Jesus to seek out and rebuild from the foundation up!

JESUS doesn't care how broken, battered, torn or tattered we are. He still sees the beautiful masterpiece He created at the beginning!

Life brings all kinds of things to us to hurt or destroy us. It comes as neglect, abandonment of all kinds, betrayal, and bruises.

The enemy means to destroy us! Any way possible! If it takes abandonment to make you hate God, that's what he will use. If it is betrayal, hate, bitterness, selfishness....he will use any and all of it. The enemy ALWAYS makes us Broken and Battered! 

BUT when JESUS comes, He says..."Bring all the rotten and broken parts to me. All of it! There is no reason to try to hide it, I have already seen it and I still LOVE you! Bring it to Me so I can throw it all away.  I will mend those broken places and restore your beauty to bigger and better than before!" He makes us NEW!

Jesus says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" - 2 Corinthians 5:17

So today, if You are feeling battered and broken, let JESUS, the Master Carpenter, come in and remodel you! Let him use the tattered as the gorgeous character that will draws others to you, just like the old doors in that house! Let him shine thru those crack of brokenness and restore you to a more beautiful 'home' that you ever were before. 

Let this post also remind us all of each person we encounter. There are broken & battered people with a door that doesn't want to open up. They will not always be glad to open that door. It takes time since the last times they opened only brought hurt and stealing. We must remember that LOVE OPENS THEIR DOOR! We cannot adequately share who Jesus is until we can show them Jesus's LOVE.

If we ask to see the beauty under the brokenness, JESUS will shine His light on it for us to find! We must take the time to look beyond the junk trying to hide her & remind her of her beauty in JESUS. This is love. Reminding her Jesus Love Her too!

JESUS remodels and restores to bring bigger, brighter, and more beautiful. Everytime!

If Jesus brought restoration to you, I'd love to hear it! Many others NEED to hear it too, so share your story today with big love.

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​

  
What a song of PRAISE this is! 

I sometimes forget what once was. What once held my hope. I sometimes forget how hard I tried to handle my own life. How it felt carrying the burdens of the entire world on my shoulders.

Who wouldn't rather forget those days! But I have come to realize in my own life that only when we remember back to the pit we were in, can we be truly grateful for the Grace Jesus brought to us!  

Jesus brought HOPE. FREEDOM from the shackles and chains. PEACE replaced turmoil. 

Most of all...Jesus paid for me to have a clean slate!
Salvation took every stupid mistake and rebellious attitude and threw it away, promising to never remember or bring it up again!! (thank you Jesus!!)

Today, as the song plays, let's choose to remember where we were when Jesus found us. Do you remember drowning in the quicksand of the mess? I do....

Give Jesus PRAISE today for HIS BLOOD that saves us and brands us for eternity!

ENJOY & Share with a friend who needs to reminded that if Jesus was big enough for salvation, He is big enough to handle anything the world throws at us! :)t

"All My Hope is in Jesus" Lyrics

I've been held by the Savior
I've felt fire from above 
I've been down to the river
I ain't the same, a prodigal returned 

All my hope is in Jesus
Thank God that yesterday's gone 
All my sins are forgiven
I've been washed by the blood 

I'm no stranger to prison
I've worn shackles and chains 
But I've been freed and forgiven 
And I'm not going back, I'll never be the same 
That's why I sing

All my hope is in Jesus
Thank God that yesterday's gone 
All my sins are forgiven
I've been washed by the blood 

There's a kind of thing that just breaks a man
Break him down to his knees 
God, I've been broken more than a time or two
Yes, Lord then He picked me up and showed me 
What it means to be a man come on and sing

All my hope is in Jesus
Thank God that yesterday's gone 
All my sins are forgiven
I've been washed by the blood 

Oh 
I've, I've been 
washed by the 
blood

​After having a deep discussion at our bible study recently, some questions arose: 
Are there church members filling pews regularly, teaching classes & maybe preaching each Sunday that may not have a real, on-going Relationship with Jesus?

Is the American way of church making disciples or do-gooders? Could there really be people who walked the aisle, joined the church & baptized that know all ABOUT Jesus, but have not met Him personally? Is it possible to have a dedicated church member living in fear of Heaven or Hell being their destiny?

These questions are heavy on my heart because I think this happens each Sunday in every single church around our nation. The outside appearances and accomplishments look perfect. The words they say are just right. They may even know more theology than most. How and why can this be? Because...
​
REPENTANCE is no longer politically correct.
It's uncomfortable and it's judgmental.

Repentance:  A complete reversal of one's attitude and values; i.e., a turning toward God. Repentance is a complete shift of attitude toward God and our sins. Repentance is not reforming our life. Nor is it penance or an attempt to atone for sins. Repentance is change - it is more than sorrow.
​(excerpt taken from blueletterbible study tools)

Think about it....if a pastor started a 12 wk series on our need to repent of the mess going on behind the facade, would you would be excited & happy to get to each Sunday? Probably not. I'm betting we would be quick to think repentance is for those lost people, not me....I mean I am at church & those people are not. :/

 THAT mentality is exactly why we, the church, need repentance.
The church is being called to repent and return to the first love...Jesus.
Only when the church gets right with God will we impact the lost around us.

 Repentance is hard & it hurts.

Repentance acknowledges that we are not perfect. Admitting that we are not even 'good enough'. It brings us to confess that we have been doing our own thing, all the while knowingly against what God says. Who likes outing themselves??

Repentance means admitting we are not what we appear under the mask. Repentance is brokenness, before God and before others.

Repentance won't come naturally. Repentance is something we have to will to happen.
Repentance happens only when we decide & determine to compare heart with GOD's instead of our pew partner Patty.

Repentance only comes when GOD is given first place in our lives. Repentance won't come until we acknowledge and submit that God is The Ultimate Authority over everything, even our lives. Even our money. Even our desires. Even in our leisure time.

BUT GOD longs to bring Freedom, Peace, Joy and confidence in your salvation & back into our churches. Do we desire it enough to make room for it? Will we make room by getting rid of the hoarded & hidden sins that are overtaking the heart.

Our Spiritual lives will never grow until repentance becomes such a part of our lives that it seems normal. Then our churches will explode with & for God. When we, me and you, decide to get uncomfortable & real with repentance in our own lives.

Using the illustration in the video below, God is not going to shovel the ...'crap' out of the way for us until we acknowledge it and ask for Him to get rid of it. 

Francis Chan illustrates this point perfectly in the video below! BE SURE TO WATCH!!

"We can't continue to be the church member content to dust the windows and vacuum around the pile of 'crap' in the middle of the floor. "

COME AS YOU ARE. YES...come just as you are. Right now at this very moment. Jesus has no prerequisites. No list of 'get it together' issues.
​That is not how Jesus is. Not at all how He works or loves!

You see, Jesus not only loves us, He IS love! LOVE is Jesus. This is still a hard concept for the logical, analytical nature in me. I ask constantly, "but WHY would you love us when we reject you, scoff & run the other way? Why?"

The answer I get each time is this..."I AM GOD, not human. I AM LOVE, it is not just a conditional emotion I feel." Wow. I guess that explains it. I will still never be able to understand a love that deep and unconditional. But I'm glad that Love is for me!

So, don't try to rationalize it. You will never understand. Just accept it! This love is always for us, but we have to ask and receive it. He won't force Himself on us. He only wants love from us that is true, deep & realized.

I have no idea what lies your past has convinced you of. We live in a hurting, sinful world and some of you experienced that as far back as you can remember. BUT, God promises to use what was meant for harm & turn it to good if we allow Him to.

At times, we choose pleasure & happiness in everything except Jesus. This will last for a moment or many, but it always dries up and leaves us parched for fulfillment.

That 'satisfying & fulfilling' hole will only be filled when Jesus comes in and mends the shattered cracks of the heart. Ask around & you will find many who thought they were beyond repair. Some thought they had gone waaayyy to far over the line. Bottom of the pit, as they say. BUT GOD always had His eyes on them, sending people, songs and words at the exact time, maybe even for years before they realized it.

GOD ALWAYS LOVES YOU, but
 God can only save us if we allow Him to come in & take us over. Inside & Out! Only then can His love, mercy, kindness, peace and all the other flow thru us!

So today, COME AS YOU ARE! Give up trying to be good enough or perfect on your own. It just can't happen.
Only Jesus can make us Righteous
(perfect in God's sight)