I finally found a tiny apartment on the other side of town. And I love it!!! But it has a few downsides to it, since it's under the roof. We won't be homeless at the end of the month and I have had a landslide of creative ideas on how to optimize space and comfort. But I will have to invest in it a lot. Soon, you might want to see my youtube page, to check out the progress on the place!
In preparation for the new place, I went to an antiques store to look for furniture and ideas. I was in the darkest corner of the shop, where they had all the old stuff one on top of the other, in a very dirty back room and saw a beautiful 18th century desk. It had gorgeous floral details underneath a very ugly layer of laque. It had water marks, a few dents and the locks were in disrepair. I really wished I had the money to buy that desk and restore it to its original beauty.
And then, I remembered a story a very dear friend had told me a few years ago. His wife loved going to second hand stores and garage sales and she loved the old repainted furniture the most. After she peeled off the layers of glittery paint and the odd colors of different decades, she came down to the bare wood. And that was the best part. She loved the colors, swirls, lines and imperfections of the natural wood underneath.
Stripping the paint off isn't easy, it is a lot of hard work!
A few years ago, I wrote a post about the first one-on-one prayer with God. I (foolishly) asked Him to remove from my life everything that took my attention away from Him. Needless to say, I got my wish too. At that point in 2010, I was sitting in a wheelchair, not working, lost my friends, had no money and no family here other than my precious little kid. Basically I had nothing.
I was stripped, bare to the soul and very empty.
I empathized a lot with that old desk today. I am now glad that I made that prayer and that God has taken me out of the shop, like the desk, and paid a high price for me. He has taken the time to strip me of my fake colors, of the ugly laque and has put a lot of effort into making me into the masterpiece He wants me to be.
Honestly, I think I still need a lot of repair. But I am grateful for the pain and loneliness of getting stripped to the grain. I am glad He did it now. I can look at myself in the mirror and appreciate what a wonderful job He has done so far.
In preparation for the new place, I went to an antiques store to look for furniture and ideas. I was in the darkest corner of the shop, where they had all the old stuff one on top of the other, in a very dirty back room and saw a beautiful 18th century desk. It had gorgeous floral details underneath a very ugly layer of laque. It had water marks, a few dents and the locks were in disrepair. I really wished I had the money to buy that desk and restore it to its original beauty.
And then, I remembered a story a very dear friend had told me a few years ago. His wife loved going to second hand stores and garage sales and she loved the old repainted furniture the most. After she peeled off the layers of glittery paint and the odd colors of different decades, she came down to the bare wood. And that was the best part. She loved the colors, swirls, lines and imperfections of the natural wood underneath.
Stripping the paint off isn't easy, it is a lot of hard work!
A few years ago, I wrote a post about the first one-on-one prayer with God. I (foolishly) asked Him to remove from my life everything that took my attention away from Him. Needless to say, I got my wish too. At that point in 2010, I was sitting in a wheelchair, not working, lost my friends, had no money and no family here other than my precious little kid. Basically I had nothing.
I was stripped, bare to the soul and very empty.
I empathized a lot with that old desk today. I am now glad that I made that prayer and that God has taken me out of the shop, like the desk, and paid a high price for me. He has taken the time to strip me of my fake colors, of the ugly laque and has put a lot of effort into making me into the masterpiece He wants me to be.
Honestly, I think I still need a lot of repair. But I am grateful for the pain and loneliness of getting stripped to the grain. I am glad He did it now. I can look at myself in the mirror and appreciate what a wonderful job He has done so far.
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