Instead of your shame
    you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
    you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
    and everlasting joy will be yours. – Isaiah 61:7

Real healing requires a carpenter; oh wait, I know one, his name is Jesus

Monday was a big day in the world of our transition to Tarboro. First, we now have a contract on the Wake Forest house (yay, hooray, woohoo!!). Then, the layers started to come up in the section of our Tarboro house where the old wood floors were hidden under linoleum and worse.

If all goes smoothly we will close on Elmwood Court before Thanksgiving. And, if all continues to go well, then before too long we should have a good idea of when to expect the Saint Patrick Street home to be ready.

Between now and closing our workload will ramp up considerably. I will be arranging for movers to pick up the big stuff but still anticipate many more trips hauling anything Rebekah and I can handle.

But I have to tell you, our big floor reveal was very gratifying. There is one large patch in the kitchen (probably 20%) that needs to be replaced, but the floors in the dinning room, the living room, the utility area and the guest bedroom are all going to be amazing.

Room to room, the flooring will all be different! There is continuity in the front of the house (all the rooms with the twelve-foot ceilings) but the others all have wood of various widths and texture, and each will refinish uniquely. Can’t wait to see!

The truth that’s getting through to me is that covering something up is only redecorating – and at best remodeling, and that is nowhere near the same as restoration. Restoration means uncovering, discovering and then fixing.

Now sometimes – as in 20% of the kitchen floor – restoration turns into renovation. Renovation is also a beautiful thing.

Of course none of this is possible if we do not first determine to get to the root of things and actually make a difference. But real healing does not take place with just a paintbrush, real healing requires a carpenter too.

Oh, wait one minute. I think I know one: his name is Jesus.