Welcome Home

I have always thought of what it be like to buy and restore an old Victorian home. What a challenging, but exhilarating experience that would be. To start with something old, falling apart, and broken down then to see the finished product of a home brought back to it's prior existence would be fulfilling. I can even imagine moving day...the day I move into a fully renovated and rejuvenated home.
Over the summer I had a dream that I believe God gave me, in order to show me what He was doing in my life. Over the past year and a half I have grown closer to God, than I have ever been. My heart's desire has become to be as Christlike as I possibly can be. In the dream I saw a home that was decrepit and falling apart around me as I walked through it; the house was literally falling apart around me. The house was dark and had no light in it, and it was hard to see where I was going. At the end of the dream just for a flash I saw the house new and refinished.
I realized after I had this dream that God was showing me what He was doing in my life. The house in the dream represented my heart. He wanted me to know that He was actively tearing down the old walls in my heart in order to restore and renew it into what He wants it to be. How amazing to me that He loves me enough to help me understand what He is doing in my life.
There is a song by Shaun Groves called "Welcome Home", I love the second verse which says: "Take a seat pull up a chair, forgive me for the disrepair, and the souvenirs from floor to ceiling, gathered on my search for meaning, every closet's filled with clutter, messes yet to be discovered, I'm overwhelmed, I understand, I can't make this place all that you can." The words of this song have always spoke to me, because God wants to take our heart and truly make it into His image.
My heart is still full of some of those messes the song refers to, but I have found out that as I seek God more He wants to restore those messes. Jesus desires to take all that is broken in you and replace it with something new. He wants to restore you to a place better than where you have started. One, by one the Lord is moving from room to room in this "house" of mine and removing the debris. As, He clears the debris Jesus rebuilds, renews, and restores my heart. It is not an easy process, but God promises us in Psalm 51:12 that He will, "Restore to me the joy of salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit." (Amplified version) If I approach each new revelation with a willing heart, then God will continue to restore and heal my heart.
Beloved, life is hard...many of us have broken hearts from the wear and tear of pain. Know that whatever has happened to you, or whatever you have done that there is no pain that God cannot remove. By bringing you through the pain, Jesus will restore your heart to it's fullest potential and then move it beyond where you started. No concept in your walk in Christ is more important than to know that He is capable of restoring your heart and healing your pain.
Isaiah 61:1, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound." (Amplified version)
Later, in chapter 61:4, it says that God will rebuild the ancient ruins; and raise up former desolation. If you allow Him to, God will bring restoration to your "house" too. The key is that you have to have a willing heart, that is open to Him rebuilding it in His way and according to His will.