I’m sure you’ve seen shows, read articles and posts which have to do with fixer upper properties. House flipping or remodeling is such the craze now and there are ideas galore. Fixer-Upper, Flip or Flop, Property Brothers, Love it or List It, are a few that have been around for years. We’ve seen design showrooms and quality craftsmanship with Mr. Handy Man and Home improvement professionals who’ve become well-known through these reality TV shows. I used to watch Trading Spaces the way children watch saturday morning cartoons. I love the Before-and-After, don’t you?

Remodeling homes and even tearing parts down has repeatedly caused Chip Gains to don the T-shirt which accompanied his rejoicing exclamation of, “It’s Demo Day!” It’s come partly with the surge of popularity of Chip and Joanna Gains, but I believe there is something fascinating and wonderful about make-overs and the seeming “resurrection” of dead things. (Now, dead people resurrected will have to be a different blog post.)

Like you, I too have seen posts, articles and TV shows all about house flipping. Well, along those lines-there is this house in my neighborhood which was such an eyesore. It stuck out like a sore thumb. (to be fair, completely honest and vulnerable, we don’t keep our property perfect, JUST SAYIN.’ I feel badly sometimes for my next door neighbor who has to look at my yard.)

But I would walk by this one property while on my walk and think, What’s really is going on inside this home? It is becoming such a dump out here!  Yikes! No exaggeration…There was a dumpster parked in the driveway of this home for months. I’m talking about the big metal blue dumpsters contractors use when they’re replacing a roof or completing some other huge project. YEP! It’s still here! Each day I’d pass the huge dumpster until I no longer noticed it because it had sat there so long.

This huge metal dumpster was in the driveway for such an extended period of time that it rusted when it rained and the rust dripped down the entire driveway. It looked like a bloody river of orange which stained half of the driveway where it sat. The bushes and hedges were all over grown and there was definitely some exterior damage too.

I wondered, If it looks like this out here, what has happened to it on the inside? It’s kind of a scary thought. It was never abandoned and I’m not sure what the situation was. I don’t know for sure, but it was a true fixer upper.

But it has been reclaimed! A contractor bought it, flipped it and a new family has moved in!

• The exterior was repainted from a dingy and tired yellow to a pleasing slate gray, white and black color scheme.
• Re-roofed and the chimney was redone too.
• There is a new fence, shutters, windows, garage door and doors.
• Mulch was brought in and put down around the nicely trimmed trees.
• The shaggy and overgrown bushes have been cut down.

 

There’s even a beautiful white rocker out front on the porch now.  I think it’s completely inviting and has sweet curb appeal. It was a true “Fixer Upper” and an amazing “House Flip.”

It’s just fabulous! I am so delighted for the neighbor across the street. His own house and landscaping have always been so pristine and beautifully manicured.

I saw a young woman out watering the plants on the front porch the other day. It just made me smile. How delighted she must be to be in her new home. My girlfriend and I walk this neighborhood and always bless the people who live in the houses. We bless  them with prosperity and health and we bless them with a sense of God’s favor and goodness to them. And now I’m just watching the revitalization happen before my very eyes! WOW! How beautiful these properties are becoming!

I have camped on this section of scripture lately. (Isaiah 61: 1-10)

God is the God of INSTEAD:

• To give a beautiful headdress instead of ashes
• The oil of gladness instead of mourning
• The garment of praise instead of a fainting spirit
• Instead of shame there shall be a double portion 
• Instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot

Dear reader, know that you are being blessed. I pray that God is showing his favor to you. I pray you know that God is for you not against you he’s working to reclaim anything in your life that has been neglected, miss treated or is falling apart.  God is really good at DEMO DAY! He is the God of INSTEAD!

If you feel your life is in a shambles, if you feel like it’s been too long, or if you feel like there’s nothing that can be done in your current situation, know that you do not have to partner with those thoughts. That negative junk is a lie. The truth is God comes to restore and redeem.  He does it better in our lives than any fixer upper. He doesn’t desire to fix us up. INSTEAD He kills us off and starts completely over. (read these whoppers!)

• I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20        

• Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! (one version says the old things have passed away… Passed away means they are dead.) 2 Corinthians 5:17 

• The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Be encouraged, be blessed. “He who started the work in you, and in me, is faithful to complete it!’ (Philippians 1:6) 

 

I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

• What is your latest home project?
•  What is God currently doin’ in the remodel of your life?