Marrying home repairs with knowing Jesus

On a day to day basis, it's not always easy to remember, but this is what it's all about.  That's basically what my dear husband said to me after listening to John Piper in the van as we drove 9+ hours home from Mississippi yesterday.

Almost a month ago [ironically now I'm realizing it was Sept 11, which folks want to make a Day of Service....] I noticed a Facebook friend posted, "I'd give anything to just have a full hamper. I've got the fence lying down in the backyard, the pool is too heavy for me to get in the attic (but I will still try), there are holes in most of the walls, some of the doors are off the hinges or won't close, the closets are so full you can't close the doors, and I have to get everything out of the storage unit and into this house somehow so I won't have the bill hanging over my head. I'd rather just put it all in a dumpster and start over. Or put it all in a dumpster and NOT start over. But most of it isn't mine, so I can't do that."


My heart was immediately touched. I knew she'd been dealing with some pretty hard times. I sent her a message almost a week later-- asking if I could help. Her response was, "Would people really want to do all that? You would do that for me?"  And I replied back, "I offered, because if you were my sister I'd be a wreck over this."

"And well, Jesus told me you ARE my sister."

So we put aside our own home repair/renovation project and drove to Mississippi for Fall Break.  Fixing the fence was so much easier than we'd imagined-- digging in Mississippi mud was ever so much faster than hard Texas clay and rock. My 8 year old kept insisting we must have hit a water line, as the hole was filling up with water faster than he dig! We had an impromptu lesson on the water table and maximum saturation.

While Jeff and some of the boys worked on the fence, I worked indoors with other boys. They were happy to make holes in the drywall into nice neat squares that could be patched. There were about 18 holes that varied in size from 3x3" to 18x32" as well as another dozen holes that were small enough to just fill with putty and not patch.

Every room had holes where the doorknobs had just gone through, so one son was put to work taking out broken door stoppers and installing new ones.  Jeff also repaired a door that was ripped off its hinges.

Last but not least, the support column whose failure was causing the porch roof to sag. It's doing its job now.

A little serious discussion to my women friends out there.... (the next snippet used with permission from my forum friend who wrote it).

While I do not wish to fearmonger, I do feel it is wise to educate. Therefore, for your perusal, and possible need-to-share-with-a-friend-one-day need, I post the following:

1. The Non-Violence Wheel. This wheel represents healthy relationships wherein two people give regard and value to one another. (This will open a .pdf file, for which you need Adobe Acrobat to read.)

2. The Violence Wheel. This wheel represents unhealthy relationships wherein one, or both partners are attempting to assert and maintain power and control of the relationship. (This also opens a .pdf file.)

3. A link to an Abuse Cycle Wheel. This chart notes the repeated cycle of abuse-pattern behaviors.

4. A link to an excellent Abuse resource. This website can be used to walk a person through abuse education one step at a time. Literally. The information is segmented so that the reader need not feel overwhelmed by content, but can read a bit day by day as they learn and grow; or, all at once.

Extracting oneself from this crippling cycle is possible. A heathy, normal life is attainable. The Lord restoring the years the locusts have eaten [Joel 2:25-27] is a real promise.

If you or someone you love is in need of help, please do not hesitate to pass this information on.

Many thanks to the 15 other ladies from the Sonlight forums, and their families, who sacrificed in order to fund this project. So much was raised in just a few days, that there are leftover Lowe's cards to use for another need.