Everyday Faith with Mary: Sanding A Door

We have been and are remodeling a mobile home. What a chore! When we purchased the mobile home (at a very good price) little did we know the extent of the remodel. The first clue to its extent was when I fell through the bathroom floor.  Needless to say, that led to a new floor. With all of that being said, this gave us an opportunity to create a home in our own flare, which is barnwood and rustic. Old and rustic like us. 

Then, I get the bright idea of using an old farmhouse door as a unique bedroom door. So the search begins. Found It! Bought It! Began restoration.  Now, let me clarify that I do restoration of furniture and such for people.  That’s for another column. What a challenging restoration this is.  Each time the farmer’s wife grew tired of the color of the door, the solution was just paint over it.  Some of the paint was oil based, some water based.  The end result was SIX coats of paint being removed! SIX!! Talk about having a fun time.   

Started the removal of the paint with liquid paint remover.  Didn’t work. Went to the store, bought a different brand, which I thought was stronger.  Wrong, didn’t work. Tried the hand held round sounder. No luck! Last resort was the handy dandy hand held belt sander. The big gun! Seven mind you SEVEN belts and MANY hours later, wood can be seen!  Oh, it was well worth it.  The wood is so rich and pure! 

As always good things come out of our labor if we are consistent in our works.  While sanding on this door and being outside by myself, I began to think about how this door relates to my life.  After becoming a Christian at age six, I grew in Christ.  A child of innocence. Life then schooled me, building up harsh layers in my heart. Those layers are for another time. I continued to add layer after layer for a longer amount of time than I should, until like the door, these layers were extremely hard to remove.  Wanting to keep them instead of giving them up.  Like the door, being stubborn about removing the bad to find the beautiful wood below, in my case the heart inside.  I am so thankful Jesus didn’t give up on that heart and kept sanding away to remove those layers. Am I stubborn? You bet! Jesus was more stubborn than me.  He continued changing worn out belt after belt until he reached the beauty inside, just as the beauty of the rich wood of the door.  Jesus never gave up on my heart.  Did I have to be receptive at some point for Him to sand those layers away?  Of course.  Did the layers come off immediately? Absolutely not! Just as the door took time, I also took time.  Yet unlike the door that will be finished eventually, God will never be finished with me. He continues to attack those layers in order to structure me as a Christian.  I  must be receptive to the sanding of the heart, one layer at a time.  God has not completed His remodeling.  

Thank you, God, for not giving up on me. 

 Like the door, Jesus is working on me, renewing and loving.  I put love into everything I restore.  Jesus does the same.  My heart must be restored, quite often.  He is there to sand off the old and restore, giving me a new and fresh heart.  I must accept my sanding and work at receiving the renewal.  You can also let Jesus sand away the roughness and create in you a renewed and beautiful heart. Won’t you let the sanding begin? After all, it is a process.  God bless Amen 

Everyday Faith With Mary . is written by Mary Howell who grew up on a farm in Quitman, Arkansas. She is married to Pete Howell and between them they have four children, nine grandchildren and three fur babies.  Mary has a deep love for the Lord, family, children and animals.