living loved

. . . He will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness and expose the motives of the heart. – 1 Corinthians 4:5

If you haven’t been able to tell by the titles of the last couple of blogs, my life can be summed up in a series of interesting songs and titles – a blast from the past.

And this week is the same. Thankfully, the actual roof is not on fire nor was it on fire. However, much to our dismay, we did find out this week that we are extremely fortunate that it has not been on fire. Since we moved into our house last fall, we have tripped breakers from our kitchen and learned what to use and not to use at the same time to prevent running to the basement to reset whatever we tripped. However, this week something interesting happened when I tripped the breaker and two other outlets in different parts of the house also tripped. After mentioning it to my handyman husband (an electrician by trade), he decided it was time to take a look inside some of these outlets. . . ugh. What was inside was old, faulty wiring and also major fire hazards. The scariest part, was finding actual “hot” wires in the hallway immediately outside my 3 little amigos bedrooms embedded in the light fixture. Ugh, again, followed by a huge sigh of relief and praise to God for keeping us safe.

This, of course, led to opening up all the outlets and covers within this side of the house and finding that all wiring needs replaced. Inside these old walls is a lot of hidden secrets (notes, toys, messages) and danger (old wiring, metal, cloth wiring, crazy-can’t-find-where-you-belong wiring). Old houses – am I right?!

Over the years, this house has been transformed again and again. It is an OLD house. It has been standing for a century. It has a lot of history and has undergone renovations and additions, and plaster and paneling, and went through various phases of adults, and children, and pets, and all the things. And behind these walls are hidden things.

And so it is with us. Behind our exterior walls are a lot of hidden things. Behind our smiles, frowns, hugs, and crossed arms are a lot of hidden things. In our heart of hearts are secrets and dangers. And I don’t write this lightly. We don’t like to be exposed. We don’t like to admit our faults and sins. We don’t like when things we hide in the dark are exposed to the light. But God is so clear in that we NEED to bring that which is in the darkness to light. When we admit our faults and sins and get rid of the seemingly perfect life we picture for everyone else, healing and restoration can happen. When we don’t, all that has not been exposed and properly handled can destroy us, our homes, our families – setting us on fire.

If we ignored the faulty wiring and the hidden danger behind the walls of our house, we would eventually have a fire. That fire would destroy our home from the inside out – the roof, the roof, the roof would be on literal fire. And worse (all silliness aside), our children would be placed in a dangerous situation. Is it a pain in the butt? Yes. Is it a lot of work and rebuild? Yes. Will it create a mess once we open those walls and years upon years of coal dirt, soot, insulation, and plaster fall to the floor? Yes. But it will be replaced with new wiring, clean insulation, and fresh walls and paint.

That is what Jesus does for you. Exposing our messy hearts, sinful pride, and admitting our faults is gross. We don’t like to open our walls to our hearts and admit that we are not perfect. Sometimes, I get jealous. Sometimes, I feel prideful. Sometimes, I let that old nasty bitterness creep in this heart. But then I expose it. I talk to the Father. I let Him in (He already knows), and then I talk to my husband and my best friend and let them know I’m struggling and need some prayer. And just like Jesus does, He cleans the soot of my heart, replaces the insulation around my heart with fresh love and grace (His mercies are new every morning) and makes me new. Every. Single. Day.

Maybe it’s time to look behind those walls. Maybe it’s time to do some rewiring. Expose your hearts, friends, and let God make all things new.

XOXO, Loni