PERSPECTIVE

With drywallers coming in a week or so, we find it necessary to make sure all the walls are prepared. Nails have to be pulled out of all the exposed studs and the plaster walls need to be assessed. Loose plaster will have to be knocked out and cracks and dings will need to be smoothed over. That also means that all the wallpaper must be removed. I'll be repainting the walls that are in good condition.

Do you know of anyone who actually enjoys stripping wallpaper? With 10 foot ceilings and a stairwell that goes up 3 floors, the task seems huge. Every hallway and bedroom was wallpapered. After doing some research, I decided that I should purchase a steamer for the job.

 I've done a fair share of wallpaper stripping in my lifetime and I have to say that a steamer is definitely the way to go. With the steamer in my left hand and a scraper in my right, I simply moved across the wall, row by row, section by section, right to left.

This process provided me with a lot of thinking time; a lot of praying time. 

 After a section or two I needed to look around to see how much I had done...and how much more I had yet to do! That stairwell loomed ahead of me. And of course at the top of those stairs were hallways, bedrooms...and a 3rd floor too!

I was very tempted to be discouraged. But I was determined to keep working steadily...

...back to thinking and praying...

What about this process relates to my life? God, what principle could possibly be learned from this job?

The Father began to speak to me; to encourage me..."Don't dwell on what has not yet been done. Look how far you've come! Live in the moment. Trust God with what is ahead." 

As Keith and I were taking our morning walk and praying together, we realized that God wanted us to keep His PERSPECTIVE. He will always encourage us. We can trust Him with our future. We worry too much and begin to get discouraged because we see huge tasks ahead which seem impossible to accomplish. How will it ever work out? How will we ever be able to do it?

We were reminded today to place our trust in Him once again. 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear...but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself..." Matthew 6:25-34

...and by the way, there's lots more wallpaper stripping to go. In five hours, I was able to do the walls in the main foyer and up to the top of the stairs. I think I'll be doing a lot more thinking and praying.