So, now I’m a new homeowner. If you’ve been following the last few days, you know what I’m referring to. If you haven’t, that’s ok, I understand, jump in now; you’re welcome here. I have been sharing a wonderful story about how the Lord moved in my life in a big way. Go back and catch up with us. It’s incredible!
Please don’t misunderstand me here. This was a new purchase but far from a new home. The home was over 40 years old at this point, and wow, did it show. My new home was a treasure trove of renovations. It was a renovator’s dream, and now that dream belonged to me.
Something unique.
The unique thing about this home was the 6-foot ceiling in the bathroom. Yep, folks, from floor to ceiling was six feet, 2 inches high. If you needed to change your shirt, you did it very carefully if lifting it over your head. I was fine with it; after all, I was well under the measurement, and so was my daughter.
With great excitement and a little bit of fear, renovations began.
My daughter was a real trooper. She was about three years old at the time, and she did so well. She helped me by banging on things, measuring stuff, and playing with her toys while I worked.
Our schedule.
Every day after working eight hours at the paying job, we would head to our new home and work till we couldn’t do it anymore. Then we would drive home and crash for the night. We did this for quite a while. It was pretty much her and I since we didn’t really know anyone else in town, and the few we did know were busy with their lives between work and such. The new home consumed weekends.
Renovations.
I ripped out carpet, vinyl flooring, old tile, replaced windows, doors, and kitchen cabinets.
Talk about timing, a guy I worked with was replacing his full kitchen, so I got nice cabinets for my kitchen free.
What a blessing!
I built new subflooring in the laundry room and hallway. I replaced the hot water heater and closed in old windows to make a master closet. I ripped out the old plumbing fixtures and put in new ones. In addition to all that, I built a new air conditioning closet and window seat in the family room.
I think my favorite part of the renovations was taking down the 12 x 12 gold flaked mirror tiles on the living room wall and moving the living room wall a few feet to cover the refrigerator sticking out in the kitchen.
When I say renovate, I mean renovate.
Those who stopped by to visit were amazed at the required work to make this place livable. They were amazed at all the changes.
You see, I had been attending church since moving to Orlando, and I was starting down the path of spending more time talking to Jesus. Throughout the days renovating, spending all that time essentially by myself, despite my three-year-old daughter’s company, I spent a lot of time talking to God, especially when I took windows out and ripped cabinets down in the kitchen.
Boy, did I spend lots of time telling him I had no idea what I was doing, and I sure hoped I was doing it right.
I can’t take all the credit for the work done in that home; I have to give all the credit to God. I didn’t fully give the credit it the Lord then, but over the years, I have come to recognize that’s who deserves the credit for what happened with that home.
Abundant blessings!
Blessing after blessing is what happened with that home, and I didn’t fully grasp it at the time as it was happening, but I sure do now.
Sometimes we don’t realize what’s happening in our lives until we come through it. Then we look back and see God’s fingerprints all over it. I look for his fingerprints now and get so excited when I find them.
Tomorrow, I’ll dive deeper still into this wonderful story. In the meantime, think about all the times God has had his hands in your life, and you didn’t realize it was him till later. If you haven’t stopped to thank him, take some time now.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for leaving your fingerprints all over the place, especially in my life Lord. Father, I didn’t recognize it before, but I do now, and I’m so thankful. Help me draw closer to you, and Lord, I pray for each one reading this today. Father, thank you for loving me. In your son’s name, I pray, Amen.
In His Service
Jeanette
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