At one point in my life, I never thought I’d see the end of my hardships. Family problems, broken relationships, sickness and stress. It felt like things were just piling up, one after another. The only positive thing that I chose to dwell on was the fact that I was surviving, I had made it through many hard times only by the grace of God. But I began to feel weary, wondering why God had seemingly allowed my life to crumble on every corner.

When I escaped the day for a quiet time with God and began to pray, He spoke to me.

“I am building my Master’s house”

Me. He was talking about me. And you, too.

We have to lay it all down. Every heavy load we carry.

Bitterness, depression, injustice, hate, anxiety, grief. Sin.

It’s hard to stick to God’s word sometimes, especially when we are hurting. There are truly some heavy stones out there, some that feel impossible. But Jesus, a carpenter, is the master builder. When we give these things to Him and relinquish our control and fear, He gets the glory. He gets to create something new.

Every time you choose Him despite your own desires or pain, that is a stone laid down. A stone that is building you and me, the Master’s house, the place where He dwells. A place where, through you and me, people will see the Glory of God. And I was right when I said my life was crumbling at every corner. Because in order for me to be a vessel of His glory, I had to be stripped of my ‘flesh’. I had to get out of the way.

And one day, that pain you are feeling isn’t going to control you anymore. That depression will no longer grip you. That person who hurt you, you can forgive.

He calls us to love,

to trust,

to have faith,

to persevere,

to forgive,

to believe.

He’s not asking you to lay the stones down because He is indifferent to your suffering. Because we know our wonderful savior is all too familiar with suffering. He wants you to listen to His words, and let Him create beauty from ashes.

Let His work be completed in you so you will be mature and lacking nothing. Someone out there is waiting for your testimony.

“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” – Matthew 7:24-25 KJV