Remodeled Into His Image

Remodel: What the heck does that mean? Merriam Webster says this: to alter the structure of, remake, to cause (living tissue) to undergo structural reorganization, alteration, or renewal.  Gina and I have recently decided to take a huge step in our daughter’s recovery and do a bit of remodeling of our home to make it a bit easier to care for her. A big push-in shower and the removal of a few walls to make it easier to navigate in her wheelchair to name just a few. That decision alone was a difficult one with so many emotional thoughts to work through but after that came the big work.  Color, shape, tile size, flooring, paint, cabinets, pulls, switches, lights dang the list just kept getting longer and longer and Gina did a fantastic job working through all of that with the help of some really special people. The remodel is still going on and I keep telling myself, Todd you just have to “trust” the process and have “faith” that it will all come together. Two words I want to expand on a bit today, Trust and Faith. Two words we use a lot in our Christian walk. Both used in our relationships with Jesus and our relationships with loved ones and friends.

Isaiah 26:3 says: “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Isaiah is saying that God’s people can trust in the Lord forever, why you may ask well verse 4 goes on to say, “for the Lord your God is an everlasting rock.” He is able to hold us up as he remodels our hearts, our thoughts, our actions. Nothing that we can do on our own but with the power and strength of the Holy Spirit leaning on Gods unchanging character as we cry out as he prunes away the sin in our lives. Trust and Faith doesn’t mean that we cannot ask questions, have some doubt, have some anger, or even question the why. God can handle our ever changing emotions and our questions. We have to be honest and open up and ask those questions. God’s never changing character and love will show us the answers to all these emotions in His time.

David talked about this questioning in Psalm 6:6: “I am worn out from groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.” I think that is the honesty we must have to grow closer to God. God meets us with open arms in times like this. He wants to hear our fears, hurts, our questions. Faith, in the one true God. “Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1.

As we brothers and sisters in Christ are being remodeled into the image of Christ, let’s remember a few things. With God as our contractor we are saying He is our only rock, our only hope, our only refuge. That trust and faith are real, yet we do have the ability to ask and question because we serve a BIG God who never changes and loves us more than we can ever imagine.  The process can be painful but that my friend is where we learn and grow. Have faith and trust. Blessings.