I have been doing a few projects around the house these past few days. One that has made a pretty big impact in my life is a shelf I was to re-paint.

Let me tell you about this shelf. It is a basic shelf, maybe around 48" square. We keep it in our living room decorated neatly with books, pictures and toys. Very nice. Mindy has had this shelf for a long time...I have no idea how long, just a long time. Mindy painted the shelf brown about a year and a half ago, it looked nice. Now, we are transitioning to more black than brown, so that's right, time to go black.

We decided it would be best to strip it as it has been painted several times and wasn't looking as good as it could. Bad idea! I have been working on this for a few days in my spare time. It is very monotonous and tedious, sometimes I don't feel like I am getting anywhere. Thankfully, I think that I might have it done today! Hopefully!

Thinking about this shelf I am reminded of us...people, especially Christians. Like the shelf, in the beginning we looked good, we were smooth and new. After a few re-do's to fit in better we began to look old and used, maybe even a little sloppy.

This shelf has taken many applications to get all of the old paint off. It has taken a lot of scraping and sanding. It has taken a lot of patience and a lot of work. Does this sound familiar? This is us! As people, especially Christians we can get to the point where we need to be stripped. We need to get all of the old life off of us and start all over. This process hurts, it is monotonous, pain staking, and hard.

As I near the end of the stripping process and look forward to the painting process. I am reminded that we need too will have an end to the stripping time. It doesn't last forever!

Maybe you are in a season of life where God is "stripping" you of all of your old life and ways. Be comforted, you will soon be to the point where He can begin creating you again!

Maybe God is not stripping right now but needs to. Ask Him to, then prepare for it, He will do it. The process will not be fun, but the final product will!

Maybe you have been stripped and re-painted already. You should hold fast in this time, keep yourself clean, don't allow unnecessary coats of paint. Stop and remove them as they come. Maintenance is a lot easier than demo. Trust me!