Those are some of my favorite pastimes. It was in those canvas buckets that he talked me into buying a house, quite the feat. The idea seemed foreign and expensive and I begrudgingly agreed to start the process.
Quickly my childhood of modeled hospitality and my enthusiasm for shopping, made finding a house top priority and full of excitement. I slid through pictures and imagined our lives and our friends filling the prospective spaces. When we finally found our little home, we walked up to a front door painted turquoise as if to say "yeah... You belong here". We walked the "track" inevitably composed by the layout and I could see Christmas parties, intimate gatherings of soul friends and children growing up.
We found, bid, and closed within a week, a few months earlier than our original timeline, but confident we were home and prayed it would be a place of love, laughter, safety, and ministry.
Since nesting a year and a half ago, we have hosted graduation parties, birthday celebrations, bridal and baby showers, interventions, Bible studies, countless meals, slumber parties, and one sweet girl who made who claims it as home.
I’ve lost track of meals made, dishes washed, sheets swapped out, tears cried, and belly laughs.
In that time, we have also experienced flooding, busted pipes, doors not shutting, doors not opening, leaky roofs, broken tiles, and, most recently, an estimated $6900 in foundation repair.
Three cheers for homeownership!
As we set out to apply for our first big adult loan to repair the cracked and insufficient foundation of this house, I rest in the soul filling knowledge that the foundation of our home is not solely built on unreliable slabs of rock, but on the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Though imperfection runs rampant inside these walls, his grace abounds more and more. He provides us money every month to make mortgage payments and buy food and drinks to enjoy and entertain. He heals the one dissolving into tears on the living room floor, paralyzed by life and circumstance. He gives us a refuge and allows it to become that for others. He gifts moments of honesty and reconciliation. He has brought us from reclining in lawn chairs imagining future things to a home that presently meets all of our needs and more because of his glorious grace.
As a bitterly scratch out the first check towards this foundation loan, I hope to recall the moments of fullness and ministry and know that it’s worth every number.
