One of the things I take pleasure in is taking a piece of old furniture and giving new life to it.  The older, outdated, uglier, and hopeless, the better!  For each scuff, abrasion, or injury I lovingly examine and determine my course of action for it.  I see them not as something to be hidden but rather to be transformed and beautified.  I see my work likened to the grace of our Lord Jesus.  He takes our lives as we surrender to Him and makes what was once old, offensive, and hopeless and gives us new life. He brushes His grace as I do my paint and removes the shame and replaces it with spiritual beauty for all to see and will glorify His name. 

My restoration process essentially is a reflection of the meaning of grace as the process is about adapting to the challenges that are certain to come and making beauty for ashes.  Just as it is with our lives, as we walk in the Lord’s grace we will stumble and even fall because we still live in bodies of flesh and a sinful world.   The Lord will not abandon us in our failure but will pick us back up so we may continue in His grace according to our needs.   Our lives depend upon His grace!

My work is about accommodating the moment that will present itself, and so it will be one of change.  I will have an idea of what and how I will start a project but more often than not, it will end up being entirely different.  For this reason, I do not like to take on custom work because when I do, I no longer have this freedom that helps me create my beauty by being confined to the requirements that are set in place.  The flaws or uniqueness that I once worked with to enhance and showcase become my frustration and pain!

I had a neighbor ask if I would paint her bedroom suite.  For some reason, without any hesitation, I said, ‘Sure!’   I heard my words come out of my mouth and knew this was not good but reasoned, how hard could this job be?  Pretty straightforward I told myself.   I failed to recall that in the custom projects I have done in the past, I increased my expectation to 1000% which turns me into a neurotic lunatic who allows for zero mistakes.  So, as I begin, with each painted coat I am careful to leave no brush strokes which requires frequent sanding.  I end up sanding away so much that the corners are rubbed bare which is contrary to my order request and the starting point of what normally is a labor of love into a seemingly unending nightmare of unforgiving and relentless judgment. 

I have a shop in the lower part of our home.  Not only is it where I love to work, but it is where I  talk to the Lord.  Where I listen to my audio bible and my favorite teachers and preachers and where I pray ongoing and dialogue with the Lord a great deal.  Essentially, my shop is my sanctuary, where I meet with God.  In particular, this day, as I am going through this now tormenting cruel task, I ask, ‘Lord, is there something I can learn about the things of God in this?’  In such a state of panic, I continued not expecting to hear anything as time went by, 25 plus hours with what seemed no end to the grief, and as the harder I tried to improve, the worse it got.  Instead of tuning in to the Lord, I am almost nauseous now thinking of how I need to find another suite to replace this disaster I was creating.  Which led me to desperate appeal but surprised myself when I sat down, and asked the Lord, ”Father, let me hear your heart.’

That instant, it was like God captured this whole ordeal to show me the difference and effect of what it means to practice your faith by the rule of law omitting the law of grace.   The Law is for good is perfect and right.  Its job is not to change us, but to reveal our need to change.  It will only reveal our flaws or sins. The Law makes no allowance for grace – AT ALL   I knew at that moment God was answering a prayer I had previously prayed asking Him to help me capture more fully law vs grace. He gave me a perfect visual through this project that involved rules and a deadline.  In these rules, I sought perfection as the goal.  I could not measure up to the standard I imposed and only felt defeated the more I tried. Conversely, when I paint freestyle with no expectation and allow the weakness of the furniture pieces to be what I showcase to become places of beauty – this is a wonderful picture of how the Lord takes us and showcases in us what once was our flaw and places of devastation by lavishing us with His grace.  His work has no law attached, no standard.  He is the standard and He applies it through His Spirit and the paintbrush of grace and where there is freedom! 

Here are a few of my exhibits of grace: