Making a new home. Here, at Mays Farm.

A place we intend to be a spiritual sanctuary for those in need of space and solitude and shelter; a moment away from life's vagaries and vicissitudes.

A house goes through many changes in its lifetime.

And this one, this one, in its 400 years of history, has seen so much come and go. We are but the latest to inflict change upon it. This front house is a new addition - the late 17th Century part added on at right angles to the original early 17th Century farmhouse behind it (which is still there, the kitchen still in all its primitive glory)

It looked idyllic when we first saw it, in the summer sunshine. Never guessed what lay beneath the surface.

And now the bare bones are laid out for all to see.

It looks pitiful.

Ancient wood joists, barely holding the house together. Now treated for rot and worm, they lie there, daring me to imagine this as a place of beauty and balm and benefaction.

Can these dry bones live?

Can mine? Can yours?

In the pain and the depression it sometimes feels that all my joists are exposed, all my bones dead and lifeless, I am without hope.

Then someone prayed over me, ten days ago. Knowing little of what I have been through, how I feel; but knowing we are undertaking a Large Project of a House. She saw this renovation as the mirror of the renovation in my life.

And I knew that pain and suffering, whatever form they take, can, if God is allowed to be at work, be the stripping down, the paring back. Necessary for the work of restoration and renovation to occur.

Right now, I am lying, joists exposed, work being done, painful treatment occurring.

But these bones will live again.

New life will come again.

Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. Ezekial 37:5

And so I look at my poor home, and I look at my poor spirit; and in gratitude I give thanks for the renovation and restoration that will one day lead to a thing of beauty, living and vibrant.

The house will take several months; I will take eternity.

Eternity - to be made into His likeness. And HE is the true beauty.

2 Corinthians 3:18 "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit."

I will be blogging more about the house and how it is getting on and the beginning of the new ministry here. SO why not sign up (box is up on the righthand side above) to have the posts delivered straight to your email inbox, then you won't miss what's happening!