It’s Demo Day at our house. Kind-of feels like I’m living in Fixer Upper. Every time I watch that show, I’m reminded of how we all need a Demo Day followed by a Design Day to start the transformation for our own lives.
Demo Day
Demo Day is the day when we remove all the things that don’t work in the design God has in mind for our lives. Rotting boards and joists, walls that obscure and preclude us from looking and being our best, old paneling, popcorn ceilings, just to name a few.
Design Day is when God gives a glimpse into what the new, remade us will look like when we get on board with His design. Unlike Joanna, there’s really no negotiating with God; there’s either get on board or stay stuck.
In our house basement family room, paneling is being removed, but under some is old wallboard. An interesting find which means we won’t have to buy additional wallboard there, just have it cleaned and sanded. In the downstairs bedroom, walls need to removed to make way for a larger room. All of this is to conform to the design we have in mind for this space.
It reminds me of my own Demo Season. (I needed more than just a day!) I had lots of issues that needed to be removed. When some issues were removed, I found I only had minor issues that needed to be fixed. However, there were areas where I had erected walls that needed to be torn down.
Not an Easy Process
God had a design in mind for my life. To begin to come even close to that design, I had to allow things to be removed so His design could come forth. Demo Season is so worth it for Design Season to begin. For our own transformation to happen, we have to go through our own Demo Season, then God’s design will come forth.
It’s not an easy process, like so many weigh-loss groups and products make you think. In order for transformation to happen, we have to deal with those underlying hidden issues. In our family room some of those were great finds, like the wallboard under the paneling. Some made no sense, like a closet in the bedroom that wasn’t wide enough to hang hangers on the rod that was installed or baseboard that had been used to trim out the windows. The worst was crumbling wallboard that was discovered when baseboards were removed in the bedroom.
Uncovering Issues
Here’s the truth, though: Without removing the baseboards in order to install the new floors, we wouldn’t have discovered the wallboard issues. Without discovering those issues, we would have never thought to just remove the closet to make more space in the small bedroom. Without discovering the window issues, we wouldn’t have known to trim them out with the correct materials which will help alleviate some of the air leakage around the windows.
Here’s the truth, every time we confront a hidden issue in our lives, it helps us move forward to fix and alleviate it. We don’t just cover it in some other haphazard way. We fix it so it won’t cause more problems.
I found I had to stop burying my emotional issues that were at the root of why I kept eating when I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t want to find those issues. I wanted them to stay buried. That wasn’t working for me, though.
The issues just kept rearing their ugly heads, and I kept feeding them to keep them from making me angry, frustrated, stressed, overwhelmed, lonely, fearful, shameful and bitter. Overeating doesn’t fix those issues; it just masks them until they come back again.
Discovering His Design
As each issue presented itself, I began to learn to deal with it, with the help of a coach, a group on the same journey and the help and strength of God. Only when I began Demo Season was I able to begin to hope that God did have a plan and a new design for my life. Then I began to see that maybe, just maybe, transformation (a thorough and dramatic change in form or appearance) would happen.
“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Eph. 1:11-12, MSG).
I’m thankful that transformation, which I define as allowing God to remake me into the design He has for me, is happening. It continues to happen as I stay close to Him.
From Glory to Glory
Demo Season became a wonderful season in my life, because I finally surrendered to God’s design for my life. Of course, it never ends. It’s a lifestyle change where every day I’m learning more about how to surrender more to Him. The best part about the journey is knowing I am a work in progress. I haven’t arrived. I will be working on my life with God’s help as long as I am here on this earth.
“We all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of] glory to even more glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18, AMP). {eoa}
Teresa Shields Parker is the author of seven books, all available on Amazon. Her latest book, Sweet Hunger: Developing an Appetite for God, is available now, and Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds is the No. 1 Christian weight-loss memoir. She is also a writing and weight-loss coach, blogger, speaker, wife and mother. Visit her online at TeresaShieldsParker.com to find her books, coaching programs and free gifts.
This article originally appeared at teresashieldsparker.com.
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