The Lord Builds the House

As many of you know, a friend of ours lost his wife in a car accident a few months ago. They had moved here from Virginia to help our church, a wonderful God-filled couple, with their 3-year-old son. I never expected God to move like He has through this tragedy, bringing beauty from ashes in ways only He can.

The husband, Jared, has impacted hundreds with his message of hope and healing. He has never lost sight of God or His promises despite this. And I really want to share one of his messages with you so that you too can be impacted by one man’s unshakable Faith.

The Lord Builds the House

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”  -Psalms 127:1

My first home remodeling memories go back all the way to my toddler years, hammering nails into a board my dad had set up and helping paint the side porch on my childhood home while wearing only a Sherwin Williams hat and a bathing suit. If my father didn’t have tools around, it was shingle samples. Dad was employed in different home repair based industries all growing up and he owned his own kitchen cabinet business. Home repair was the backbone to my family’s wellbeing all of my life. It led me to working full time in the family kitchen cabinet business after graduating college. Customers would ask at what point did my brother and I begin working with our dad, we would respond “full time or just in general?” All of us kids (including my sisters) knew a hammer and a paintbrush from a very early age so the “first day of work” could have been that one trip mom made to the store without us kids.

Having worked in many different homes, you come to appreciate the sanctuary that a house is for so many different types of people. It’s your haven from your job, your safe place for your children and the gathering place for your outside family and friends; home just isn’t four walls and a roof. As Rachel and I put our previous home up for sale last April, the picture she sent me of Isaac (my son) with the realtors sign shook me as I realized what we had just done haha-but in total faith we knew “home” rested well beyond the materials that make up a home, but what we had formed in our hearts as a family. Taking that with us as we packed the house only meant “home” was moving, not being left behind.

How great the difference a few weeks later. As family and loved ones repacked our things back for VA, “home” had been greatly altered from that moment on from that highway accident. It became another structure entirely different. It was a home I couldn’t fix.

The line applies here as much this week, as it does every week. My writing here isn’t to depress you. This is to illustrate to you through my journey the healing deliverance of our Mighty God.

In the months that followed I began to clean the yard of “home.” Picking up pieces, fragments of what was and contemplating the necessary repairs. I needed help. I cried out to God and began to seek Him on moving forward; I asked Him for help.
God began a work in my “home.” 

Weekly I began to see repairs rise up out of me as I dealt with the anger, loss of hope, bitterness, loss of faith, loss of joy, loss of peace, all the while carrying the grief of Rachel’s loss. One day, God got me to hand off that grief to Him…and I was done grieving. Like a freshly repaired plumbing leak, I routinely “checked the pipes” on that repair. As I told loved ones where I was at on my grief and how it was gone, I felt the safety nets come up-ready to catch me in case I was wrong.

I pushed on. 1997-2001 Honda CRV’s became just another car for me.
God put the desire in me to stop at Rachel’s old job last Friday. I hadn’t been able to step foot in a Starbucks and order a drink since her accident…especially that Starbucks.
I approached the cashier and made my order. I got a sideways glance while my order was placed and then a, “are you Jared?” God always times His help. I took my time tasting my drink at the bar and speaking to another customer with small talk and spoke more to the Barista. No impulse to run, no tears. The master plumber had made his repair.

So why does this matter? 

The “house” that gets built in life inevitably faces use, the elements of life, and even storms. Wrecks happen. We lose loved ones. Attacks come. The house becomes damaged and all the while we try to continue to live. 

Where do you stand with your house?

It says in Psalm 127:1 that God builds the house. BuildSSSSSSSSSSS.
This isn’t a one time build. It’s a build and rebuild and rebuild and rebuild…
We are getting additions, remodeling, and changes constantly as we act to do our part and apply the Word of God to our lives.

Unfortunately, some of us haven’t invited God to remodel our homes. Hello, pink walls, dingy carpet, and wallpaper! God wants to rip that stuff out and replace it. Maybe God began a work in you but you didn’t let him finish. Maybe the job is done but you kept the dumpster of debris…the bitterness, the anger, the resentment, and the unforgiveness. Invite Him to complete the work within you. Invite Him back to finish. Let Him take away that dumpster. God’s ready to go to work in your life.

Let your light shine bright, Jesus Bright

 

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