Restoration is messy. Have you prayed for restoration?
Monday, a national strike was declared. No school on Tuesday! “What will I do with a free week day, the kids out of school and child care to help me with the baby?” I decided to paint Helina’s room. I ran out and got the paint and was so excited until I returned home to 35 feet of 6 inch border. “Hmmm…to paint, strip or conceal.” I got online and read up on stripping wallpaper. Hot water and vinegar for 30 min then pull off—“easy”, so I went for the stripping. About three hours into the project I still had about 33 feet left and I was less enthusiastic about the project, in fact a bit discouraged.
I hate this about myself. I want to learn to enjoy the journey, so I decided to pray. I focused on “my girls” and their restoration. God began to speak to me through the wallpaper. Not literally but figuratively. You see, I was only able to take off about one inch of paper at the time and never reach all the way to the clean wall in a single pull. I had to soak first. Several times, sometimes, scoring the paper ever so carefully, so as to not damage the wall, then pulling the top layer that held the picture- inch by inch. Then I had to soak again, and inch by inch scrap the bottom layer of paper filled with glue that held it sticky to the wall. I scrubbed and scraped each section many, many times to get all the remaining gunk off before I was ready for paint.
These girls of mine have a lifetime of gunk on them, passed on from generations and tightly attached with the strongest glue. We are not looking for the quick fix of consolation, but interested in total restoration. I’m now cautious of the manuals and their description of the amount of effort and time involved in such a process, so I’ll cling to what I learned from the walls today. It will get messy because there are lots of layers to shed. We will need to spend plenty of time soaking and will be careful not to wound the good stuff hidden behind the mess. It’s OK that only tiny pieces fall off at a time because it’s a journey. It will take divine energy, power, patience and prayer….most importantly…soak, soak, soak.
Please join us in prayer for the restoration of these girls.
Joy
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Reyes Family Blog (T.E.A.R.S. for Joy). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
As I read your blog this weekend your wallpaper project allowed me to reflect on my own life. I think of my healing process like an onion at times only a few layers at a time. I recently asked the Lord to hurry up I want to move past this trial/season already and He told me no. I have to take it layer by layer. Thank you your story was an encouragement and a gentle reminder.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:58 am
You and your girls got a literal soaking. We are praying the literal will translate into helping with the spiritual as you all recuperate. Around here we use the image of pealing an onion, but the wallpaper is even better.