The Once and Future--and Ever Present Carpenter.

Y'all, I own a tool belt and tools. I'm blessed that I grew up with an awesome father that strove to make sure we knew our value as women while at the same time, reinforcing our need to be strong and independent. Sometimes that fierce streak of independence is a blessing; other times, it's a curse--especially those times when I take on projects that I really know nothing about AND don't have the patience to complete.

There's this nightstand that I put together incorrectly when I bought it, and it has been crooked since the day I took it out of the box. And lately, it has bothered me. Tremendously.  So last night, I decided to put on my toolbelt, thinking it can't possibly be that hard to take a leg off, reposition it, and screw it back on, right??

I took the leg off, but when I went to reposition, it wouldn't fit--but I realized that I could switch it out with another leg. But once I got that leg off, it wouldn't fit either, so I figured, hey--let's take the other two off and see what happens. One of them had to fit, right??! No. And after making my hands raw trying to unscrew the legs, and breaking a sweat trying to make them fit, I just threw down the screwdriver and sat in the middle of the floor amongst screws, brackets and those annoying little black plastic things--I was tired, y'all.

When I got my senses back, I decided to really look at the darn table to figure out what I was doing wrong--and behold, it appeared that when I put the table together the first time, I used something other than the recommended Allen wrench--and had stripped the holes that each leg fit into.  In order to fix that table, I was going to have to completely take it apart, come up with a way to fix each piece, then put it back together for it to be as good as new. Started to debate chucking the table, but if I wanted that table, that's what I realized I had to do.

And lo, :o), the message became really really clear:

For a good long while, I have been operating from a place of comfort. I started to be ok with not wanting more. God was like, "yeah, NO"--and literally pulled me out of my comfortable place and called my attention to things that He desired me to work on--wanting to take me closer back Him and to rely more on my faith.  So God began to take ME apart. What I was hoping was a minor "repair" has ended up being a total recheck and all points adjustment to every aspect of my life. I've been taken apart, just like the warped table. That adjustment has bled over into my heart, friendships, love, and more. God has begun the different and uncomfortable task of pulling me apart to make me fit into the space destined for me.

Of course, I could continue as I was--"happy", busy, pleasing-- but what purpose does that ultimately serve? Getting by and taking what I was given--when I could do so much better?  No one else may have noticed that my table was crooked--but I knew.  And as soon as I committed to doing the work to fix it, the end result was a better table.

It's the provocative, awesome way that God works.  Though it is different, I am thankful for being pulled apart by God for repair--and I realize that the more you resist to being bent and and broken, the more broken and bent you become! I'm finding that you just can't fit into what He has for you if you refuse the adjustments. His love for all of us is so expansive and I am learning that it will all be worth whatever inconvenience or discomfort to go through this process. He is always healing, repairing and restoring better than before--and I am convinced that what He's building in me is absolutely awesome!!

"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well. " - Psalm 139:14

I am thankful for the once, future and ever present Carpenter. :)

(And hopefully I don't get in trouble for stealing a song title as my post title--but it worked SO well! :)