Time for a....MAKEOVER!!!

Okay....I am back in the land of the living after taking care of really sick kids. Here goes...

I was listening to the radio this morning and was really moved by a topic that Chip Ingram was speaking on. Mr. Ingram has a talk radio show on a station in my area called Moody Radio. This is syndicated and I would highly recommend trying to find this station in your area. Moody Radio is full of wonderful speakers, with several different speaking styles. You are sure to find one that you connect with. God has used this station to really speak to my heart on several occasions.

Chip was talking about the show Extreme Home Makeover and how it relates to us as Christians. This got my attention. I love to decorate and redecorate. I love to paint, wallpaper, rearrange furniture, re-do something old...you name it. I love it. Now, this might be just a part of my slight OCD nature but if you give me an empty room or a blank wall, I get very excited. Crazy...I know. Just humor me. What does any of this have to do with God? With Christianity? Glad you asked. Let's start with understanding why a "makeover" is such a cool thing. Now, don't kid yourself. Everyone loves a makeover. Whether it is a redo of a room in your house, a redo of the entire house, a hair cut, new make-up, a new outfit....getting a do-over is such fun. Am I right? Even guys can relate to this concept....take my husband. He has a "man cave" that is all MAN! It has an obnoxious sound system, a poker table, war "collectibles", you name it...it is all testosterone. Every once in awhile, I will clean it up for him. Keep in mind, this is not often but set aside for those times when I feel like being extra nice to him. When I unveil all my hard work ( or even unveil the hard work that I have paid someone to do), he is always thrilled. It all seems fresh and new. Everything is in it's place and you can see the floor again! Mind you, he could live happily in the filth and grime but when it is clean and neat, he seems to think of it as brand new again. Makeovers are a wonderful thing. Whether they are minor or extreme, they are a great thing. We feel like we get a fresh start and this feeling often bleeds over into all aspects of our life. I have come to understand that Christ wants to do a makeover on US! Some scripture that speaks about this concept can be found in Ephesians 2:1-10. I love these verses. Why don't you go to it and let's discuss it. If you don't have a bible....consider getting one. I would recommend an NIV version. The verses are a bit easier to understand than the old stand by, New King James Bibles, but it does not digress too much from the original text. (also, it comes in lots of pretty hard and soft covers. Being 110% girl, this speaks to me! ) These verses can be found on your computer too. Just google the verses and go from there.....con't reading once you have read the verses........................................................................................................

Now, if after reading the scripture, all you heard was the Peanuts cartoon teacher...wha wha...wha wha wha.... don't worry. For all people, understanding scripture is a tough thing. So often, I will read a verse and think, "what the heck did that just say!!" Other times, I will say, "oh...I get it!" My dear friend, that is precisely why I listen to Christian radio, read Christian books, go to bible studies, etc. All in an attempt to allow God to speak to me in a way that I understand. It's a good thing!

Okay, what these verses say to me is God is sooo wanting to do a makeover for us, in us. He wants to show us, that regardless of what we have done, where we are in our walk, he wants to get at every part of our souls and do a complete makeover. Some people are at a place where they abuse alcohol or drugs. Some people struggle with depression, some people deal with verbally abusing their children, their spouses....the list goes on and on. Some people just want to simply have more good days than bad days. All this, is what our Lord wants to get His hands on and do a complete makeover on. Why? Why little ol' me? Well, besides because He loves you and me madly....let's look at Eph 2:7. It says.... in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. In order to explain this, I think there are a few comparisons that might hit home. In every makeover show, whether the change was to a home or a person, the end result is a look of shock. It is a look of awe. Right? On the best ones, we find ourselves in awe too!! We don't even know this person or we have never seen the home in real life but the transformation is remarkable. REMARKABLE. We long to see the "before" again so we can enjoy the change that has occurred. Know what I mean? I love the ones where it is a mom that has had a makeover and her kids see her for the first time and they start to cry. Love those. They can feel the happiness that their mom feels. I too start to cry. I also used to cry when people would win a frig on The Price Is Right so I might not be a good measuring stick for this kind of thing. = 0 ) God aches to do this for us. If we allow him to transform our lives, we will be a living testimony to his power. People in our circle of life will be effected by what we have become through the power of Christ. When a Christian is truly being a Christian, when she is living her life in a way that is following God and all that he calls her to do and be, it can not help but draw attention. For example, someone might say of a person that they have known for years..."wow, what is up with Sally. She has changed. She seems so happy." or "Have you seen Joann lately? She is glowing. I am not sure what is going on with her but whatever it is, it is working." I am not talking about the "holier than thow" people that most of you might be thinking of. So often this is what is conjured up when God and Jesus are talked about. Christians don't have fun. They don't drink, they don't swear, they are boring!!! WRONG! Now, I am not saying I have a trucker mouth and I drink like a fish but my preconceived notions of what being a Christian was like is nothing close to what I have come to learn and KNOW what the real meaning is. I have certain convictions about what God is calling me to do/be. Other Christians have other convictions. It is not my place to even think about what others are doing or not doing, and judge them on it. I have enough trouble figuring out my own self! Plus, I have laundry to do!! I need to let God work on me. When I do this, he fixes me in ways that make me happier than i have ever been and the "fixing" allows me to actually love on others too. It is like a side-effect that is actually a good one! Yeah. I am not kidding.

I think that it is important to really understand what our Lord is longing to do. He wants to renew YOU. He wants to show you how you can be a great mom, a great wife, how to get past hurts and abuses, how to move on from a loss, how to overcome adversity....all this. If we allow him, if we chose to let him in to our soul, he will do an extreme makeover like we have never seen before. I have allowed Him. I continue to allow Him cause this girl needs all the help she can get! Can I get an Amen?!