The Renovation of a Soul

SUSAN TYNER | CONTRIBUTOR Never go to the grocery store hungry and never let your husband look at Zillow if you’re feeling bored. The move from Mississippi to Texas had been a big one. Besides the loss of small-town connections, our usually chaotic house of seven finally entered the empty nest phase, and Lee and I found ourselves idling. Listless. In a word, we felt a little blah. In this season of unusual boredom, Lee was Zillow-surfing and landed on a listing in a neighborhood we stalked on weekend drives. The tree lined streets boasted sidewalks with families walking their dogs. Grand homes and cottages looked well-tended despite their age. We toured the house Lee found and decided it would be perfect once we did some construction on it. So, out of a little loneliness and a lot of naivete, we decided to put our house (a perfectly beautiful house on a really lovely street, by the way) on the market. I knew just because I wanted this house, that did not mean I would get it. Feeling like a little girl asking my earthly Daddy for a new toy, I sat down with my Father and boldly prayed for this house. He and I both knew it was not a necessity—more of a wish. And, I knew if this was a terrible idea, He would never give me something that wasn’t good for me. I trusted Him to answer yes or no. He said yes. And, it was a quick yes. Buyers snatched up our house before it hit the market. We bought our new home for lower-than-asking-price. We hired a contractor. Sure, we’d heard the horror stories of renovations of old houses, but this was God’s gift to us. And while we knew better than to overlook the peeling paint and crooked walls for the hundred-year-old charm, we saw green lights everywhere. The inconveniences of a renovation were small prices to pay to unwrap this good gift, right?...

The Renovation of a Soul2024-07-04T15:47:39+00:00
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