"What On Earth Is He Up To:"

C.S. Lewis once said:

"God's work in our lives can be painful, but His ultimate goal is to transform us into something better. "

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised."

"But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards."

"You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building up a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself."

I have always loved this analogy. However, it has become more pertinent or relevant in my life now more than ever before. This morning after getting the kids off to school, I lay in bed thinking....OK, let's be honest....crying and thinking. Certainly the events of the past month of my life have left me feeling a bit blindsided. Just as in a game of baseball, you might see that a ball is rapidly heading straight at you, but the actual impact of the ball smacking you head on can still be a stunning reality to be dealt with. It can hurt. Over the past four weeks, I have definitely been feeling the sting of certain impacts in my life. And just as C.S. Lewis said, the unexpected effects of construction can be painful....very painful.

This morning as I laid in bed, specific imagery came into my mind of an architectural drawing. I am a very visual person. Without doubt, it is my way of knowing that it is time. It is time for me to begin the real work in my life of designing and rebuilding.

I have been blessed at this particular moment of time to be surrounded by people who are at various places in the process of designing and building or rebuilding in their own lives. I have always been a passionate, productive person....but seeing examples of people who are doing this amidst great odds or adversity, or some in perhaps just less than ideal circumstances....is nothing short of inspiring.

Yep....it is time. As we use to say when we were kids, "ready or not.....here I come."

Love,
Shannon

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