The Divine Rearranger

You’ve probably heard about designers who go into a home, take all the existing furnishings and décor items, and simply rearrange it all. Then, whoa la – what appeared cluttered and dysfunctional is now an inviting, warm, welcoming, and spacious area. One piece of furniture can be moved to an entirely different location and that piece suddenly looks brand new.

The designer can find an old table or chair or relic in the garage, have it touched up, repainted or reupholstered and suddenly it’s turned into a coveted piece of art. Junk becomes beauty.
I expect you know where I’m going with this blog today. God, our Divine Designer and Rearranger, comes into the rooms of our hearts and changes everything. When we welcome Him in, He takes all the junk — the crud, the emotional issues, the dysfunction, and the weaknesses and gets rid of it altogether. Or He may allow us to keep it and He repurposes it. He can still use it. He just uses it for something new and beautiful.

I’ve been to meetings or conferences where attendees are invited to go through their timeline and identify the good things, places, events, and people that positively impacted their lives. As wonderful as it is to remember those beautiful times and the people associated with them, there is also the need to identify those events, people and things that were disappointing or hurtful.

At the time, those hurtful experiences seemed like the worst of times. Maybe it was rejection, an abuse, a divorce, a financial disaster, the death of a loved one and so on. At these conferences, the leader asks: “Can you see how God used the experiences in your timeline to show you His ultimate destiny and purpose for your life?”

Some people are quick to share — like the gal who admitted she had been raped as a child but today she is a member of a women’s advocacy group for troubled women in marriages or the workplace.
Those who went through financial disaster, today, are teaching financial planning. Others that went through extramarital affairs — today they are family and marital counselors. God takes the imbalance, dysfunction and rearranges it for good.

In my own case, I didn’t plan on being a widow as soon as I was, but God continues to amaze me with His grace that allows me to speak into other widows’ lives to help them move forward with living a full and blessed life.

I’m reminded of a Bill & Gloria Gaither song that explains it so well: “He made something beautiful, something good.All my confusion He understood.All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,And He made something beautiful of my life.”

I’m back to my discussions about this Lenten season (the 40 days to Easter). Not counting Sundays, it’s 40 days of “makeover” or “rearrangement” — out with the old, in with the new. Out with the junk, and in with the fresh and new. It’s the time to dive deeper into God’s Word, getting body and soul free of toxicity, and being in a place of openness to His call on our lives.

Just as those home rearrangers give homes a fresh new makeover, perhaps we need a makeover in our lives. Our makeover takes place as we submit to the ONE Who created us…..and He starts from the inside out! Old things will be passed away and the NEW YOU — will be revealed. We just have to let go and put our lives into the hands of the Master Designer Specialist. The choice is ours. All we have to do is say, “Have your way in me. Now, let the transformation BEGIN!”