Last week, I shared the moment Carmen stood inside our newly purchased home with tears in her eyes and said, “They don’t see it.” And she was right. Most people saw what was there. Carmen saw what could be. She saw beauty beyond the brokenness. Purpose beyond the problems. A place where people would someday gather, celebrate, rest, and experience something special – Redeeming the ruins.
I told her that day, “That’s okay, Babe. They don’t have to see it yet. One day…they will.”
What neither of us realized was that there was more to restore than an old house. This property had a history. And we were about to discover that some of it wasn’t pretty.
God doesn’t just restore what’s broken. He can give it an entirely new story.
Isaiah 43:19
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Every Place Has a Story
Though we had just made our purchase, we were far from moving in with all the renovations that needed to be done. In the meantime, five months after buying the house, my birthday was upon us. My wife had surprised me with a fishing excursion, including her and two of our boys, with a local charter captain.
As often happens when you’re sitting on a boat together for a few hours, we started talking about life.
Eventually, the captain asked where Carmen and I lived. I told him we were still in an apartment in Palm Harbor, but that we had just purchased our new house in Weeki Wachee just off of “such and such road.”
There was a pause. Then came the look.
“Oh…you bought one of the drug houses.”
Wait. What? Drug houses?
That wasn’t exactly in the real estate listing. As we learned more about the property and its past, some things began making sense.
The neglect. Broken doors and door frames. Locks in weird places. Some of the things we’d discovered around the property that makes you go “hmmm.” And the seemingly endless supply of old beer bottle caps everywhere around the property.
We thought we’d purchased a fixer-upper. We were beginning to realize we’d purchased a place with a story that needed fixing too.
Some Things Require More Than Paint
We knew how to renovate a house. Or, if we didn’t know something, we were learning and figuring it out.
You replace what’s broken. Repair what can be saved. Paint the walls. Clean up the property. Plant something beautiful where weeds once grew.
But Carmen and I began sensing that this place needed something more than renovation.
It needed prayer. So we prayed. We prayed over the house. We prayed over the property. And we prayed over the places where people would someday gather.
And then we prayed that whatever had happened here before us would not determine what happened here after us.
We asked God to take this place and use it for something completely different. Somewhere in those prayers, I began understanding the difference between two words:
Renovation and redemption.
- Renovation asks, “How can we make this look better?”
- Redemption asks, “God, what new purpose can You give this?”
That’s a much bigger question.
God Has Always Loved Broken Things
Maybe that’s why this part of our story became so meaningful to me. Because houses aren’t the only things with histories. People have them too.
All of us have things buried beneath the surface.
- Mistakes.
- Regrets.
- Failures.
- Wounds.
- Decisions we’d make differently if given another chance.
- Things we’ve done.
- Things done to us.
- Parts of our stories we’d rather leave buried.
And sometimes we make the mistake of believing that because something is part of our history…
…it must also determine our destiny. But that’s not the Gospel.
God has always been in the redemption business. Peter had a history. Paul had a history. David certainly had a history.
Yet God refused to define any of them solely by the worst parts of their stories.
He saw what they could become. Come to think of it…He does the same thing with you and me. God doesn’t pretend our brokenness never happened.
He simply refuses to let brokenness have the final word.
One Bottle Cap at a Time
Those bottle caps became almost comical. We’d work somewhere in the yard…and find another one. Then another. And then another. I’d reach down into the dirt, pick it up, and toss it away.
At first, they annoyed me. Eventually…they began reminding me of something. Every bottle cap removed was one tiny piece of the property’s old story disappearing. One thing at a time. One… bottle cap, weed, broken board, repaired wall, and one prayer at a time.
The old story was slowly being replaced by something new. Isn’t that often how God works in us? We want transformation to happen overnight. God frequently does it one piece at a time.
One surrendered habit, a difficult conversation, an act of forgiveness, a wound healed, or just one step of obedience along with a prayer.
And sometimes the progress seems painfully slow. Until one day we look around and realize…We’re not who we used to be.
From Reputation to Redemption
Slowly, the property began changing. The house changed, then the grounds changed. But something else changed too. The story changed.
Relationships with neighbors began forming, people started gathering, laughter replaced some of the old stories, and prayer replaced some of the old memories.
Hospitality began replacing isolation. A property once known for one thing was becoming known for something completely different. Eventually, we gave it a name.
Chateau = a place of rest.
Mariposa = Butterfly (in Spanish).
Looking back, I don’t know that we could have chosen a more appropriate name. Because a butterfly isn’t simply an improved caterpillar. It has been transformed.
What emerges looks radically different from what entered the chrysalis. And maybe that’s one of the most beautiful pictures of redemption. God doesn’t simply want to make our old lives look a little nicer.
2 Corinthians 5:17
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
That’s more than renovation. That’s transformation.
Your Everyday Life
Maybe there’s an area of your life you’ve written off because of its history. A relationship, a dream, a failure, or your family. Maybe even…you.
You look at what’s broken and think, “God couldn’t possibly do much with this.”
But here’s something Chateau Mariposa has taught me:
“Don’t confuse history with destiny.”
Your past may explain some things about you. It may have shaped parts of you. There may even be consequences from it that you still carry. But your past doesn’t get the final word about what God can do next.
God has a remarkable habit of walking into places everyone else has written off and saying,
“I’m not finished here.”
Last week, we talked about seeing what others can’t yet see. Maybe this is why that kind of faith matters so much. Because where others see ruins…
God already sees redemption.
Challenge of the Week
I want you to do something very personal this week. Identify one part of your story you’ve allowed your past to define. Don’t pretend it didn’t happen. Don’t minimize it. Write it down. Then underneath it, write four words: God isn’t finished here.
Pray over that part of your life. But instead of simply asking God to make it better…Ask Him to redeem it, to bring purpose from it, and to use even the broken pieces. Ask Him to begin writing a new chapter. Because sometimes the places where our lives have been the most broken…become the very places where His restoration becomes the most visible. One bottle cap at a time. So be it.
Other Related Posts
Note:
What is your journey like? My journey started like a parallel journey to the Prodigal Son – Luke 15. Jump in my journey with me, now 13 weeks along, and see what your journey looks like as we walk life together. Here are the links where you can go back and jump into the journey with me:
- When Love Found Me – This is the introduction to it all.
- Before Love Found Me – God was pursuing me before I knew it.
- God at a Distance – I was looking in the wrong places.
- When God Broke In – God met me in my brokenness.
- After the Tears – Following Jesus became a shared journey.
- Packing Up Faith – Obedience required leaving the familiar.
- Making Room – God transformed our home into a place where others could encounter His love.
- Trusting God’s Hand – Even when it doesn’t make sense.
- When You Think You Need One More Miracle – and no matter what, God does it again!
- From Waiting to Wonder – Sometimes God does His greatest work in places we can’t wait to get out of.
- When God Colors Outside Of The Lines – Creating our own boundaries and limiting God.
- This Is The Way – God is whispering to you, “This is the way, follow Me.”
- Seeing What Others Can’t – When God shows you something that others can’t see…yet.
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