Renovating a "Fixer-Upper"
I want to share a dream with you. Dreams are one of the main ways the Lord speaks to me, but I don't share them all. I couldn't keep this one to myself, as I believe it's a message for all of us.
In the dream, we had sold our home. It was beautiful, and we sold it anyway, and moved into a "fixer-upper." Walls and floors needed repair, and parts of it felt unsafe. Honestly, it was almost unlovable! We stayed because we knew the work would be worth it in the end, and we were happy.
Months in, and still living in the dust, something dawned on us: The renovations weren't finished, but the house was worth far more than we had realized. We didn't have to stay there anymore and could sell it. As we began to look for a new house to live in, we found a peaceful little cottage waiting for us, finished, and needing no work at all. We were so happy. We started packing to move.
The Value Was Revealed Before the Work Was Finished
Here's what I sense the Lord saying in the dream: The value was revealed before the work was finished. That's the part I keep coming back to. We didn't get to leave because we had fixed everything. We got to leave because the season changed, which was something entirely outside our own effort. Rest is not the reward for finishing. It is a gift that is given when the season turns!
I believe some of you have walked through a long season of stripping away. It's been hard, dusty, and unlovely. That season was not wasted. The value was growing while you lived in the rubble. (Photo via Unsplash)
You don't have to stay in the dust. After a long, hard season, struggle can start to feel like faithfulness. We get so used to the rubble that we stay out of habit, long after the Lord has opened the door.
God Is Doing a New Thing
The obstacle to the new season often isn't the crossing. It's the expectations the old season trained into us. So don't let the pain of the last season carry you into the next one.
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:19 ESV)
Notice the new home that was in my dream. It wasn't a mansion. It was a cottage—quiet, finished, and peaceful. This is rest, not grandeur. Isaiah describes it almost exactly: "My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places" (Isaiah 32:18 ESV).
The Hebrew word for "resting places" is the same word David uses in Psalm 23 for the still waters, the waters of rest. And a few verses earlier, Isaiah tells us where this peace comes from: "until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high..." (Isaiah 32:15). Fire and stillness, held together! Yes!
Here's your Selah for the week: Where have I been living in the rubble out of habit, when the Lord is already inviting me into rest?
The new is here. You're allowed to step into it!
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Roma Waterman
HeartSong Prophetic Alliance
Email:Â click here
Websites:Â www.romawaterman.com
|Â training.romawaterman.com
Roma Waterman has been one of Australia's foremost Christian artists for over twenty years and has traveled the globe leading worship and teaching on the prophetic, worship leading and songwriting. Her passion is not just to release Heaven's song over the nations, but to teach others to do the same.
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