tablets of human hearts

Day 101

We moved back into our house on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We actually started staying at the house Monday night. Mark’s house (where we’ve been staying) is on the market for renters. This morning, I finally sit in my dining room again for my morning coffee and time with the Lord. My dining room walls are painted a lovely green once more and even though the room still has concrete floors, a workbench piled high with tools and paint supplies, tape still on the trim and construction dust every where, it is again my favorite room in the house.

My Beth Moore study “Breaking Free” has a chapter on “Beauty from Ashes” that focuses on the book Songs of Solomon and how we are the beautiful Bride of Christ. As I gazed upon my pretty green walls, waiting for me to hang curtains and other pretty things on them, I remember my earlier analogy of our mold filled home compared to ugly sinned filled hearts.

The process has been slow, tedious and painful to rip out the damage and restore it, but oh, I see glimpses of the loveliness that is rising from the “ashes” (or in this case from the flood waters). Isn’t that how our awesome Father is? He carefully, often slowly, tediously and yes even painfully, removes the ugly sin from our hearts and lives and restores us to something lovelier. Will my house be exactly the same when I’m done? Of course not, but it will be even more so mine. So is the heart that the Lord restores. It will not be the same as before (Oh blessedness) but wholly belonging to the Lord and guaranteed to be lovely. Then our precious Lord may gaze upon us and say “How beautiful you are my darling, O how beautiful.” Songs of Solomon 1:15

Blessings.

Grace & Peace

Day 90

I am so grateful for all the wonderful help we’ve had along the way, as we recover from the damages of Katrina.

I am thankful for Bob, who returned on the reconnaissance trip with Jon, helped rip out smelly carpet and kick holes in our walls to slow the growth of mold, and was there every day for the first couple of weeks, tearing out molded sheetrock, wet insulation and ruined cabinets. He is back again helping Jon to hang kitchen cabinets over this four day weekend.

I am thankful for our Pastor, Rocky, who has been there every step of the way, often with the help of his oldest son, Matthew, hanging sheetrock, taping, mudding, sanding, and texturing, and this weekend helping to hang kitchen cabinets.

I am thankful for the two navy groups that each spent a day at our house, cutting trees and cleaning limbs and branches in our backyard and side yard.

I am thankful for Heather and Sam who clean muck covered bathroom floors.

I am thankful for Daniel for hanging the insulation in our house and helping to prime and paint, and for him and his friends who have hauled trashed, bagged trash, and tore down broken fences and hauled them to the trash pile.

I am thankful for Mark and Brenda who so graciously let us stay in their home while we worked on ours.

I am thankful for the groups of church teams that have come down and helped us hang sheetrock, mud and sand, and this weekend I am thankful for another group of three that are hanging the doors in our house.

I am thankful for everyone who has sent encouraging words during these past three months who have sent money and gift cards to help out, who have sent books to replace some of the ones Jonny lost, and who have sent stuffed animals to give out to children who lost their homes.

I am thankful for the school district that is raising money to replace and rebuild a playground at one of the affected schools on the coast.

I am thankful for all the people who come down to the coast to help cut down trees, haul flooded vehicles, gut homes and rebuild. I am thankful for all the food, supplies, clothing, coats and bedding that churches have sent. I am thankful to see FEMA trailers all over, because that means people have places to live while their lives are rebuilt. I am thankful for all those who work in gas stations, home improvement stores, grocery stores, appliance stores, furniture stores and all the other stores that have been a part of our recovery. The employees are working long hours, with not enough other employees and too many customers with so many needs.

I am thankful for each and every one of you, for your prayers and your encouraging words.

I think I have mentioned everyone. Please forgive me if I left something out. It is not because I am not thankful, but rather because of stressed induced forgetfulness.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Blessings to you all

Grace & Peace

Day 88

Happy Thanksgiving.

Grace & Peace

Day 86

We’re painting! Hurray! Jon and I took leave this week to get our house ready for the kitchen cabinets and flooring. We have primed all the drywall and have painted the laundry room and kitchen. We changed the color from dark blue to greens. Pale green for the laundry, spring green for the kitchen and garland green for the dining room. I hope I like the new green in the dining room. The previous green was rosemary sprig and it was my favorite room in the house. The new greens are cooler than the rosemary sprig, so I’ll have to wait until we paint the dining room to see how I like it. I also painted the downstairs bathroom, but since the clerk at Walmart used a medium base for the color, rather than the light base which we had previously, the color is slightly different and now I will have to repaint the entire room because the colors don’t match.

Tomorrow, Jon and I hope to paint the master bathroom, finish repainting the other bathroom and paint the living room. Over this past weekend, we were visited by the previous owners of the house. They were in town visiting friends (bringing in needed supplies) and stopped by our house, hoping we would allow them to see how it fared. We invited them in, showed them the waterline (which still exists on one of the living room windows) and see the work we were doing. They were simply amazed; like us, they never considered the possibility of the house flooding. During the course of the conversation we discussed the repainting and I expressed our frustration in having to repaint the entire living room (and its 20 foot ceilings). They told us, much to my delight, that the paint they used should still be on file at the Benjamin Moore store in Gulfport. What a time and effort saver it would be if we could match the paint color. I called the Benjamin Moore store and was able to get paint for the living room and the hall/entry.   We’re hoping it matches.

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is upon us. Jon will pick up Heather at college tomorrow. She hasn’t been home in two weeks so it will be good to have her home. We’re planning on celebrating Thanksgiving at our church. We do have so much to be thankful for. We live in a country where we can worship and work in freedom. We have opportunities to travel, to learn, to dream and to enjoy life. We’re not in constant fear of our safety or the safety of our children. We can read what we want, speak what we want and believe what we want. When others are hurting, we reach out with love and compassion. We pour out our hearts to help in whatever way we can.

Give thanks, with a grateful heart, Give thanks, to the Holy One.

Give thanks, because He’s given, Jesus His Son.

Let the weak say I am strong.

Let the poor say I am rich.

Because of what the Lord has done for us.

Give thanks.

Grace & Peace

Day 70

Sabbath. The day of rest. And we definitely need it. I had planned on an afternoon nap, but we ended up doing a little shopping. Now I’m relaxing by surfing the internet and typing my weekly email.

Yesterday I managed to schedule an appointment at Lowe’s for countertops on November 12^th. They are so understaffed and overwhelmed with customers that the cabinet/countertop department will not even talk to you without an appointment. From what I understand, our countertops cannot be ordered until the cabinets have been measured (and the cabinets won’t be installed until the week of the 21^st) and then it will take 3-4 weeks before for the order to come in. It will be interesting trying to cook in the house without a countertop or kitchen sink. I’m hoping we at least have the sheetrock dust cleaned up by then.

Jon will be making an unplanned trip to Texas next weekend. Scout is not behaving himself at Bubba’s farm and must come home. Jon and Daniel will drive to San Antonio on Saturday and return on Sunday. They will also pick up the big screen TV that dad dropped off and picked up at a repair shop. I guess it’s just as well, since we will be unable to visit over Thanksgiving. We are very disappointed, as we were looking forward to a chance to escape, visit with family and possibly do some Christmas shopping. I do hope that the walls in our house are textured by this next weekend, so that Jonny and I can spend Saturday priming and painting. Heather will not be able to come home for the weekend (she did make it home this weekend) since they have a game on Saturday.

God continues to bless and to teach.

Saturday, after a particularly stressful and explosive incident, I found myself crying out to God in frustration. (Isn’t it amazing that as the stress piles up, it is usually a small and stupid incidents that set us off) He graciously led me to a verse in the Psalms (which are a great read for those who are struggling).

Psalm 29 “¹⁰ The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. ¹¹ The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.”

I am reminded that the Lord was in charge before the storm flood waters, during the storm flood waters and is still in charge after the storm flood waters. He will provide the strength that we need and He will bless us with peace. Not the peace that the world gives, but the peace that only He can give;

John 14 “²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

The world, with its hurricanes, wars, earthquakes, and tornadoes, does not provide any peace.

He gives a peace that doesn’t make sense in the midst of the circumstances.

Philippians 4 “⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The real key to experiencing His peace is found in the previous verse, however.

Philippians 4 “⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

If we are anxious and worrying, we won’t experience God’s peace.

If we don’t pray, pouring out our requests to Him, we won’t experience God’s peace.

If we don’t give thanks to Him, we won’t experience God’s peace.

Jon pointed out that the following verses are also key to His peace.

Philippians 4 “⁸Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think of such things.”

If we are dwelling on negative, critical, ugly, depressing and meaningless things, than we will not experience God’s peace. If we keep our minds on what He tells us to think about, then His peace will be richer, fuller, and deeper in our lives.

2 Corinthians “³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Truly we are learning the comfort that comes from God.

I think that the one thing that makes our struggles both easier and harder is the fact that so many are also struggling. The need is seen when we drive down the streets past still damaged homes, when we see the weary faces of people and when we stand in the long lines and know that services are still limited everywhere. It is hard to feel sorry for ourselves when we know so many are going through what we are going through, and so many are struggling more than we are struggling. It is also hard to ask for help when we know so many are going through what we are going through, and so many are struggling more than we are struggling.

The Lord is enthroned as King forever.

May you experience the peace that passes understanding.

Grace & Peace