Lisa Brewer Buffaloe
When God happens
by Lisa Buffaloe
When I was in high-school, my Dad found a small farmhouse on ten acres near where he worked, purchased it for $35,000 and proudly showed the family.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of His great mercy He has given us a new birth to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1Peter 1:3 ISV).
The house was a small, old farmhouse. The yard had been swept clean (literally), and the land was infested with ticks and snakes. The underbrush beyond the yard was so thick you could stand anywhere away from the house and not see two feet beyond. Yep, we owned the land as far as the eye could see.
The kitchen was painted magenta (Pepto Bismol pink) with yellow and brown tile, the small laundry room was "Lydia Pinkum Gray" (scary, huh?). The other few rooms were blue and green. There was no such thing as neutral in this house. One bathroom for our family of five, and the closets were only large enough for your Sunday clothes and a pair of overalls.
Why did my Dad buy it? It had beautiful “bones”. Underneath the interesting paint choices and the tangle of shrubs was a beautiful home and land.
But revealing the inner beauty was a long and hard process. The family did the majority of the work. Hardwood floors were sanded and redone, new closet spaces framed and added, along with paint, paint, and more paint. The well ran dry and we stood on the little stoop of a porch as we washed our hair in the rain. Water was brought in from other sources until we could dig a new well. The new well was a blessing in disguise--we were able to dig deeper to find clear, rust free water.
Throughout the process, people would slow down as they passed, amazed at the transformation of the little farmhouse.
We aren't too different from that little farmhouse. God finds us stuck in the tangles and thorns of life. He sees the potential--how to conform us to the image of His Son. He gently (sometimes painfully), scrapes away the old paint, clears out the underbrush, and kills the snakes. He digs us deep into His cool, clear, refreshing water, and creates something beautiful. And by His transformation, the passers by marvel at the testimony of our changed lives.
“Wow, what happened to you?”
God happened!
"The One who was sitting on the throne said,
Look! I am making everything new!…” (Revelation 21:5 NCV).
Look! I am making everything new!…” (Revelation 21:5 NCV).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of His great mercy He has given us a new birth to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1Peter 1:3 ISV).
