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Bury the rubble and let God build your future

excavator SX406Ruth Tong draws analogies between her recent home improvements, and allowing God to build her future.

I have always loved watching renovation programs on TV, and have secretly longed to make like ‘the Beeny’ (Sarah Beeny is a TV house restorer), and create my dream home.

Well, last year the opportunity arose to stop talking and actually action this dream. I have had a blast- it is such a blast to be wantonly destructive - swinging sledge hammers or ripping out bathrooms! My builders have been very indulgent as I have gotten under their feet in my naïve enthusiasm.

One of the problems we had was subsidence at the back of the house. I watched the builder dig some very deep holes and into those holes he dumped what is known in the trade as hard core rubble. He used a big thumper to compact it together before pouring concrete on top. It was only when he’d done this he could even think about laying our new patio.

Why am I sharing this? Well, I want to draw an analogy with our lives. We’ve all got rubble! – poor choices, failures, hurts, anxieties, awkward “no go” areas; things we’ve had to endure and work through. When we live to surrender to His will each day God takes these things and consolidates them so we’ve got strength and something solid to build on. Hard core isn’t pretty but it is very necessary.

Your place in this family, in this area, in this culture is no accident. God has got something specific for you to do and all you are so far is part of the foundation in the legacy of your life. Any of us could be anywhere else but we’re not - we’re here because deep down we know there is more. Deep down we yearn to produce something that will outlast us – because God has set eternity in the hearts of mankind.

Too many of us sabotage our future because we are stuck in the past. Our past is the hard core upon which God will build if we let Him! Can I encourage you today to value your own personal story – surrender it, learn from it and accept it because it’s part of who God has shaped you to be… and the best is yet to come!
 
Excavator image is courtesy of canna w 
at http://www.freeimages.com/ 


Ruth Tong
Ruth Tong is the Coordinator of Women’s Ministries at Eternity Downham Market, and is the author of ‘Love Drops from Heaven’.  Ruth regularly blogs at 
ruthtong.com/blog

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