The Beauty of Restoration

Sometimes a story is put into my hands and it just has to be written. Especially when it is repeated more than once during  a day..this is what happened to me and I want to share with you what I experienced.

Yesterday I went by one of my favorite little shops, Agora, to pick up a lady head vase that she had found for me.  Well, it was actually two but this is about one of them in particular.

I love these vases and they are kinda hard to find so I get excited to  get a new one.  When I picked them up, I realized that one of them had been badly broken and glued back together..she said is it okay?  I thought for one second and said yes...I brought them home after a day of running errands and unwrapped the broken one..it is beautiful and has been lovingly glued back together..done very nicely..and from a distance it is not very noticeable..
But on closer inspection, you can really see the places where she was broken and put back together.

I had seen a post earlier in the day on facebook and I was reminded of it as I looked at my lady...
"When God repairs us He makes us better; don't believe the lie that you are still who you used to be"
wow...there is a theme today about what is being said to me..I need to pay attention here...

You see..I am/was/still am a broken woman..Life has not always been so kind to me..let alone the people on this planet that are living life at the same time as me.....BUT...and I say a real BIG but...

I have been restored by a LOVING CRAFTSMAN..He knew exactly where the pieces needed to go to put me back together..He  used super glue or maybe even Gorilla glue cause I am telling you this...I AM put back together and from a distance, you probably can't even tell there was a broken in a million pieces woman here....but if you take the time to get up close, you will see the cracks where I was mended...Still wearing my lipstick and my pearls, I am whole again..but not without scars and chips and all of the little irregularities that make me less than perfect..I want to be real rather than perfect and restored rather than never having known brokenness.  Like a bone that has been broken; when it mends, it is stronger in that place than before the break.  This is the woman I have become.  I am no longer really soft, but I have a resolve that came from being broken..Here is the key...I brought ALL the pieces to God and He put me back together again....He put this lady head vase in my life to remind me of the beauty of restoration....Thank You, Lord...love never fails...

The First Time

For the very first time, I am writing my blog from my deck...OUTSIDE!  sitting in the warm sunshine..hearing the birds sing.  and smelling the newness of spring life happening all around me...  I am loving this laptop....

I am meant to be a homemaker..not just a housewife but a homemaker...making a home requires a lot of a woman (or a man)...  It is a full time job and takes creativity and perseverance...among many other things..

As I look around at my life today, it is hard to believe that just a few short years ago I was a broken and hurt and rejected woman going through a divorce....and it felt like it was the end of the world for me.

Some of you have read my story..I wrote about it here and several other posts.

I am so very thankful for where I am now..for the grace that God has shown me..for the restoration...for the ability to love again..and most of all for my husband that loves me like I have never been loved by anyone else...what joy there is in a good marriage....not perfection but good, very, very good...

So, as I sit on my deck in my wonderful yard outside of this home we have built together, I am thankful...
Yes, more than words can convey..I have not forgotten from where I came...and the difficulties of the journey so far.....
But life is good....even when made to start over against my will...It has turned out in my favor.....

These are views from where I sit today on our deck.....no longer empty and forlorn..where there was death and destruction, there is now love and beauty and life..

DON'T EVER GIVE UP!  AND DON'T EVER QUIT!  the only sure way to lose is to stop.....

No matter what comes at you, continue to live the life you are meant to live...

Good Friday

Today is a day that represents a day that seemed very bleak for us when Jesus died on that cross...it seemed like all was lost and all had ended....it seemed like the enemy had won...
BUT.......
that was not the TRUTH..it had not ended..it had only just begun...there was LIFE on the other side of that cross..there was a resurrection for Jesus and life for all of eternity. so the enemy's victory turned around quickly on him...it was in reality..OUR VICTORY!!! God had taken death and turned it into something good....He took the sting out of death...He made it contain life ..eternal life...and it became a gift for us..to apply Jesus work on the cross to our own life and receive what He did as our very own sacrifice..and exchange His death for our life..it is a pretty good exchange....He died and we live..through Him..when He lives in us, we get resurrected life forever...because He did not just die and leave it at that...He AROSE!!!

My life has been a testament to this story....He took my life filled with death and turned it around for me...I gave it to Him..all of it..the good, bad, and the ugly..He took it in exchange for His life living through me...it was my very best choice...to give Jesus my life and let Him do whatever He wanted to do with me....He took bad things and turned them around for my good....what the enemy has meant for harm, He has meant for good...just like Winterpast, our home, as we have worked to restore and bring back to life the lifeless places..He has worked on me..where there were barren places, He has brought flowers that bloom....where there was heartache, He has filled me with healing..where there was rejection, He has accepted me just as I am....His love never fails...He is good...

Today just could not pass by without a tribute to the One who paid it all for me...Jesus...

               How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God ! How vast is the sum of them!
                                               Psalm 139:17-18 (New American Standard)

Happy Good Friday y'all....and Happy Easter.....remember..
from the tomb.....He is NOT HERE!!!!!  He is ALIVE.....

thank you for reading along with me...take time to reflect on the wonderful EXCHANGE! 

Spring green

My sweet husband surprised me with this garden art yesterday..I can't wait to use it in my garden....

my new best friend

secret garden discovered under layers and layers of neglect and brush..

heirloom bulbs

third generation of gardens with this sign..my granddaddy, my daddy, now me

peony shoots

tea olive..if you don't have one, get one..

koi ponds