Hard Work

Years ago, one of my sisters needed our help. She’d purchased an old house that she could turn into a rental. But, before she could rent the house, it needed a major makeover.

And so began the hard work. Enlisting the help of our three sons and two nephews, we started tearing off old sheet rock, pulling out sodden insulation and scraping rotten linoleum off the floors. 

Outside, we tore off the ancient siding, popped shingles from the roof and replaced windows. We removed the rank and useless materials and shoveled the piles into the dumpster. We stripped the structure down to its bare studs before we reconstructed it with new materials.  

Months later, the home was completely refurbished and for years, provided a sustainable income for my sister. 

Enlisting Help

Forgiveness, I think, is a lot like remodeling an old house; it is hard work, but we don’t have to do it alone. Like my sister enlisting our help, she trusted that we would know what to do, how to do it and be there for her from start to finish. And she was right.

Consequently, when the time came for me to take an honest look at something in my own life that needed to be addressed, I recruited God’s help. 

My rage was getting out of control. It was destroying my relationship with our oldest son. I knew that if I asked God for help, he’d not refuse. Years before our first son was even born, I’d chosen to accept God’s invitation to take myself out of my own keeping and entrust myself into God’s keeping. So far, whenever difficulties arose in my marriage, God gave me direction. When I grieved the death of our third born son, God showed me how I could rely on his comfort. 

God had known what to do, how to do it and had been there for me. Therefore, I felt confident he’d show me what to do with my present rage. And I was right. 

Tearing Out the Old

 God is the expert when it comes to showing us what needs refurbishing. He is gentle about pointing out the grudges we need to discard, the defensive thoughts we need to pull down and how to scrape away resentments. He helps us shovel the piles of useless thinking into the dumpster and aids us in constructing new thoughts. 

Why Bother?

Why bother doing the hard work? Forgiveness is hard work, but the work is profitable.  The renovation will yield a return for years to come.

You can read the whole story of my journey to forgiveness in my book, A Heart’s Journey To Forgiveness found at Redemption Press and Amazon.