“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14
Several years ago we decided to build our home in the middle of my Grandpa Secord's pasture. It was a spot I had picked out since I was probably 9 yrs old until I was about 15 yrs old, I used to take walks down the gravel road and climb a tree and just listen to music and watch the sunset. No one could find me, it was my escape from those things that a young girl might need escape from. I had several.
Fast forward about 24 yrs later when my family was provided an opportunity to put a house on the very spot my Grandma Katie, would come to take pictures of things she would hope to paint. She was a painter and a heart that always saw the beauty in all things, but especially flowers.
We put a double wide trailer down and begin to build our new life. We had just given our lives to Christ and this move was nothing short of a new life, a fresh start. A do over. We dug a well and a sewer system in, but there was an ugly red pipe that stuck out from my view of the lake and the never ending paintings of sunsets night after night.
My Father-In-Law came to the rescue and upon listening secretly to my wishes of having a lighthouse over that pipe, quietly went to building me one. It was amazingly beautiful and perfect! It even had a light!
It stood in place for several years, but the weather began to work it's process on it and so I went to work giving it a paint job to protect it. I didn't have exterior paint, so I used interior. It should be fine, because I'll just repaint it if necessary. It lasted about 1 yr and needed new paint. Again, I put another layer of interior paint on it, as it was all we had. That year however, we were hit with 70 mile an hour winds, and although we thought we had my lighthouse anchored down, it couldn't take it, and blew over and apart! We carried my lighthouse in three pieces and placed it in the shed to sit until we had time to repair it.
We finally took the lighthouse back to my Father-In-Law and he fixed it back to new! He delivered it back to me and shared with me that it was no good to use interior paint on it because it's not going to last in the environment. He gave me sander and told me I needed to sand it down real good, get all that old paint off and then give it a fresh coat of exterior paint. All of which I did. It was not easy, matter of fact, several times I just wanted to quit and put on the paint, but I knew if I did, the interior paint underneath would eventually let go and peel my coat of exterior paint off with it.
Finally, I got to the repainting moment. I picked a color I loved, and I began carefully putting on a protective layer of exterior paint. I noted that my Father-in-law had also added a solar panel, which allowed the light in side to charge all day from the sun and then at night would cause the solar lights inside to shine in the darkness.
We put my lighthouse back over our well pipe and we anchored it down, this time, on a foundation and a strap that ran all the way up the center of my lighthouse. It is beautiful.
But don't think I didn't get a "God Moment" story from this...and in case you missed it....
Sometimes in life, bad things happen, or we make poor choices in life. Sometimes we try to cover these things up in many ways, many times in wrong ways that typically don't last. We continue to put on coats of mistakes to try to cover pain or mistakes, and it just gets worse. Until eventually our lives in the storms of life fall apart and come crashing down. Sometimes, we just gather up those pieces and put them in a corner because we don't know how to fix them. But then something in us realizes, that all we have to do is ask our original Creator to fix us, to make us whole again. He puts us on His potters wheel and He goes back to work restoring His original creation. Then as He often does, gives us a sander and we work with Him to remove all those things we layered on our lives that were not meant for us. Then He provided us the the cover that was intended (Jesus) to cover our lives and our mistakes. He also instilled inside us a way for our Spirit to be connected with His Spirit to recharge us through Him. Then He placed in us a light...charged by His Spirit that would never allow us to walk though darkness without Him ever again...
Now that...is a beautiful God Moment.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. ~Matthew 5:16
Several years ago we decided to build our home in the middle of my Grandpa Secord's pasture. It was a spot I had picked out since I was probably 9 yrs old until I was about 15 yrs old, I used to take walks down the gravel road and climb a tree and just listen to music and watch the sunset. No one could find me, it was my escape from those things that a young girl might need escape from. I had several.
Fast forward about 24 yrs later when my family was provided an opportunity to put a house on the very spot my Grandma Katie, would come to take pictures of things she would hope to paint. She was a painter and a heart that always saw the beauty in all things, but especially flowers.
We put a double wide trailer down and begin to build our new life. We had just given our lives to Christ and this move was nothing short of a new life, a fresh start. A do over. We dug a well and a sewer system in, but there was an ugly red pipe that stuck out from my view of the lake and the never ending paintings of sunsets night after night.
My Father-In-Law came to the rescue and upon listening secretly to my wishes of having a lighthouse over that pipe, quietly went to building me one. It was amazingly beautiful and perfect! It even had a light!
It stood in place for several years, but the weather began to work it's process on it and so I went to work giving it a paint job to protect it. I didn't have exterior paint, so I used interior. It should be fine, because I'll just repaint it if necessary. It lasted about 1 yr and needed new paint. Again, I put another layer of interior paint on it, as it was all we had. That year however, we were hit with 70 mile an hour winds, and although we thought we had my lighthouse anchored down, it couldn't take it, and blew over and apart! We carried my lighthouse in three pieces and placed it in the shed to sit until we had time to repair it.
We finally took the lighthouse back to my Father-In-Law and he fixed it back to new! He delivered it back to me and shared with me that it was no good to use interior paint on it because it's not going to last in the environment. He gave me sander and told me I needed to sand it down real good, get all that old paint off and then give it a fresh coat of exterior paint. All of which I did. It was not easy, matter of fact, several times I just wanted to quit and put on the paint, but I knew if I did, the interior paint underneath would eventually let go and peel my coat of exterior paint off with it.
Finally, I got to the repainting moment. I picked a color I loved, and I began carefully putting on a protective layer of exterior paint. I noted that my Father-in-law had also added a solar panel, which allowed the light in side to charge all day from the sun and then at night would cause the solar lights inside to shine in the darkness.
We put my lighthouse back over our well pipe and we anchored it down, this time, on a foundation and a strap that ran all the way up the center of my lighthouse. It is beautiful.
But don't think I didn't get a "God Moment" story from this...and in case you missed it....
Sometimes in life, bad things happen, or we make poor choices in life. Sometimes we try to cover these things up in many ways, many times in wrong ways that typically don't last. We continue to put on coats of mistakes to try to cover pain or mistakes, and it just gets worse. Until eventually our lives in the storms of life fall apart and come crashing down. Sometimes, we just gather up those pieces and put them in a corner because we don't know how to fix them. But then something in us realizes, that all we have to do is ask our original Creator to fix us, to make us whole again. He puts us on His potters wheel and He goes back to work restoring His original creation. Then as He often does, gives us a sander and we work with Him to remove all those things we layered on our lives that were not meant for us. Then He provided us the the cover that was intended (Jesus) to cover our lives and our mistakes. He also instilled inside us a way for our Spirit to be connected with His Spirit to recharge us through Him. Then He placed in us a light...charged by His Spirit that would never allow us to walk though darkness without Him ever again...
Now that...is a beautiful God Moment.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. ~Matthew 5:16
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