My family and I are undergoing a major remodel to our home. It still feels surreal to me that the plans and dreams we have been batting around for more than five years, are actually coming to fruition. It makes for even stranger times for us, although it has been a welcome distraction from the news of the day. We had to move out of our home entirely and find a new place to live. This was also painful, but incredibly fruitful, as we dug out old closets and found a new home for beloved things, as we sorted and cleaned. We also found an inordinate amount of trash, and once it was all bagged up and out of the house, I wondered why we held onto it all for so long.
You probably see where I am going with this—the analogy is ripe for the picking. Between the state of the world and all its unknowns, the fear that has settled over our nation, and the literal displacement of my family, I have been thinking a lot about home and God’s promise of a new creation. What are we holding on to that we don’t really need? Or that distracts us from our relationship with God and distances us from his presence? Are we willing to be a little uncomfortable for a while, displaced and confused, so that God can make things new in our lives?
I will be the first to admit, my initial response to discomfort is to move away from it. When we first started seeing our world change, I tried desperately to make it the same, to ignore as much of the change as I could. But lately, as I sit in an unfamiliar home, with none of my own belongings to comfort me, I keep thinking of the Scripture in Revelation 2:1: And he who sits on the throne said, “Behold I make all things new.” And he also said, “write, for these words are faithful and true.”
As I watch the home I love literally be torn apart, to the point where it is barely recognizable, the pictures of destruction resonate with my soul. How many of us feel we cannot find peace? How many of us long for different and better days? When it comes to my home, the mantra of the day for us is, “It will all be worth it.” When the new floors are in, and I am cooking in the new kitchen I have dreamed of and prayed for all these years, this discomfort will be but a distant memory. How much greater are the promises of the Lord? How much greater is the place he has made for us? We do not know what the world has in store for us, but we do know that God has only good things, and that his promises are true and his gifts are always good. Even when we lose the things we love, he does not change, and we know that the refiner’s fire is never destructive but always purifying. God will not strip away without giving back. The home he has for us exceeds our greatest imaginings. He knows us, and he loves us, and he wants good things for us, and that is always true, even when we are surrounded by destruction and loss. He will make all things new so that we can be at peace in the shadow of his wing. We trust; we wait; we will not be disappointed; this will all be worth it.