Metaphor: Faith as a house under construction

This spring, my friend Kayla Curfman asked me to respond to a question for her blog.

The question was:  “If your faith (relationship with Christ) were a house under construction, where would it be in the process?” (Click here to read the original post).

The first thought I had after reading this question was that my house has been going through a major renovation.

For most of its life, my house always felt like it stood strong. Challenges would come trying to destroy it, people would come in and out of it, storms would pass over it, and yet my house was the place I could always turn to and feel right at home. Yet upon entering college, it was threatened on an entirely different level. Through a series of circumstances, questions and unanswered prayers, I started to feel as though the Architect of my house was no longer there, that he had changed, that he was not who I thought he was. As I felt like my house was crashing down, the Architect stepped in and started showing me His plans of renovation. There were many parts of the house that were falling apart, that were broken, that were in need of restoration.

Room by room, He has been breaking down walls and restoring and changing it the way He originally intended. God has been pulling back floorboards and the foundation I thought I had, and showing me to rely on Him on an entirely different level. He has retouched the paint on the walls that had seemed to have faded. He has taken out lightbulbs and replaced them so the rooms shine brighter. He has opened up some of the windows that I had left closed. He has strengthened the foundation of the house to be based on the Architect’s plans and truths and not my own.

It’s been an interesting process to feel as though God has been slowly renovating my heart and my mind these past few years. Specifically this past year, God has taken a hold of my life and has broken me down so that He could build me back up the way He wants. It hasn’t been easy to doubt or to question the faith that has been central to who I am, but it is through wrestling with God that I know my faith is becoming stronger. My house will continue to expand and improve, and I am grateful that the Architect’s blueprints will always be greater than my own.