Let's be SOCIAL

Finishing Touches: Claim a new grip

Sometimes plans for change just get stuck in my head...and there they stay. For years.

Take my set of dining chairs for instance. I bought the six oak chairs for a steal at Hillsboro citywide garage sales in 2012.

(If you need to know how long ago that was, take a look at Miss J. She turned 2 shortly after the chairs were purchased. AND, we were living in a completely different house!)


But, from the moment I spied these guys on someone else's yard, I knew they could be a great fit for our family...with some nice, black paint. I bought them, intending to paint them ASAP. (Meaning, before baby boy was born that August.)

GUYS, that was almost four years ago. For those four years, I could almost hear the chairs say "paint us, paint us, paint us" every time I looked at them.

And then, this fall, I started painting. And I finished two chairs. Each chair...sanding, painting coat 1, painting coat 2...took three hours to do. THREE HOURS x6. You do the math. My weary self waved a white flag. I'll get to it another time, I said.


And then we bought a hand sprayer. Seriously you Just brainiacs...why didn't you get one of those sweet babies 5 years ago!!! A furniture painting dream, I tell you! (It's made even more plans pop into my head...)

And the 18 hours (there, I did the math for you) dwindled to two, plus drying time. With a little help from a tool designed for the job, all six chairs were sprayed twice in two hours...the time it took me to hand paint two coats on ONE chair. 


It's lovely to have matching chairs...in Stealth Jet by Behr...even the name is tingly!

But, that wasn't the end of this project...well...painting, yes...but...GOD had more to say.

There's a place deep within me that questions my own validity. I generally believe people are either for me or against me...and most of the time I believe they are against. I question whether anyone cares about me, or even wants me...I know where it's rooted...and it's a deep place of uncertainty. It's shrouded by layers of experiences that placed those lies in my brain. And I've chosen to believe them...for 30 years. That kind of deep root doesn't come out easily. It's a place I'm weak. It's a place that's often unguarded. It takes me into a pit of depression faster than almost anything else. 

This deep place constantly needs filled...and generally I think affirmation from others will do it.

But it doesn't. There are always others who get more affirmation...which equates to support in my mind. And THIS problem stems from jealousy (detestable!) that someone else seemingly gets what I need...I NEVER get what I need, the lie screams.

And as I poured my heart out to God the other night during my most recent battle, He revealed something to me...related to a recent testimony I read in which the person had found victory in the story of the woman at the well.

That testimony was a paint sprayer...it helped me move beyond the two chairs that were finished, and gave me motivation to "take a new grip with my tired hands and strengthen my weak knees." (Heb. 12:12)

In my case, water vs Living Water is where I seek to fill my deep place. While nice, affirmation from others always leaves me thirsty. I always have to come back for more. Letting Living Water fill that place means healing and freedom! Oh Lord, may it be so! May this be marked out as a straight path for my feet! (Heb. 12:13)


May we choose to be filled by Living Water, given from the One who has already WON!
What paint sprayer moments are included in your testimony?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts