Note to subscribers: This year, the service that sends out email notifications when I publish new posts has quit sending notices of reposts. As you’ll see below, I’ve still been writing. Here’s my opportunity to catch you up.

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Nine months ago, I did not see renovation in my future. But I did have concerns. I need to find out how to fix a couple of website issues, I thought.

In time, I realized: My 12-year-old blog needs a major overhaul!

And then, finally: But that’s not the main thing the Lord wants me to see.

Now, I’m neck deep in an often challenging, but oh so satisfying, project – with no foreseeable end. And I’m marveling at God’s commitment to renovation in our lives.

A major overhaul

It all started when I realized my Key Truths blog had two major issues I could no longer ignore. Techie issues. I didn’t know what to do or where to go for help.

Frustration and breakthrough

So I tried to find out. I searched online, contacted people about tech support, asked questions. In answer, a host of voices told me conflicting things – or urged me to do what did not fit with my purpose, budget or goals.

After several weeks, I had no answers. The one thing I did learn? My website had more issues than I’d realized. I had reached a crisis point, technically speaking, and had no clue what to do.

Discouraged and overwhelmed, I took a break and prayed earnestly, asking the Lord for eyes to see whatever I needed to see, and strength to do whatever I needed to do.

Shortly after I started searching again – breakthrough!

One minute, I still felt total confusion. The next minute, I saw where to get help for one of the most pressing problems. At last, I knew a first step to take.

Twists and turns

In the months since then, the pattern has repeated time and again:

Recognize what needs to be improved. Search and pray. Get bogged down. Feel frustrated. But still, press in to seek God, as to what to do and where to find the help to do it. Then, in time, see a little more light. Move toward the light. By God’s grace – and also, giving grace to myself to make mistakes – take another next step.

Little by little, the renovation that I had not planned, and did not believe I could do, has come a long way. Hurray!

Most obvious: Key Truths has a new look. That’s thanks to a new “theme,” which should not suddenly become obsolete (as my last theme did).

Most notable: I’m seeing firsthand how renovation can make real strides forward, one small tweak at a time. I’m learning to hang in there for the long haul. Whew!

Most surprising? Hmm. This venture into website renewal has taken many turns I did not expect. But the chief among them? All this tinkering with my blog has taken me back through my life.

A surprising return

As I worked to update Key Truths, some changes required me to revisit all my previous posts. Ultimately, I reread every one of them.

Refreshing and re-sorting what I’ve written

Along the way, I saw more issues. Editing issues. I noted posts that needed refreshing and a few that needed to be retired. I also noted which posts from years ago seem significant enough to re-present.

Little by little, I’m making these changes too. During the first five months of 2024, for example, I focused on a few key posts hidden back in the archives.

As of this writing, I’ve refreshed and republished seven of them. At the end of this post, I list and link to all seven.

Revisiting and reliving where I’ve been

In the big middle of all the above, something happened that caught me completely off guard.

Again and again, I found myself reading what I wrote one, five, ten or more years ago – not critiquing as a writer, but watching my own story unfold.

Post after post awakened memories … of the time in my life when I wrote it, of the experiences that prompted me to write, of all that has happened since.

Some days, I’ve relived trauma, and the long path through it. I’ve sat with the pain of the still-present past – my heartcry for my people, as deep as my personal grief.

Some days, I’ve relived joy. I’ve delighted in sweet remembered moments, and laughed out loud over zany ones. Some days, I’ve sat in awe, caught up into an instant when God gave me an unexpected glimpse of himself.

Other emotions have presented themselves too – sometimes more than one of them competing for my heart. Feeling them, sorting them, pondering what they had to tell me, I’ve seen with new eyes what has brought me to this moment and this place.

All this reliving has deepened and broadened the renovating – on my website, in my life.

A renovating God

When I set out to tackle a project that felt way beyond me, I thought: I’m renovating!

After this project took me back into the past, the word renovating began to pop into my mind a lot. Soon I realized: The Lord wants me to pursue this. If you’ll pardon the pun, he was inviting me to think outside the blog.

One day, I did a Scripture search – only to find what I had suspected: In most English Bibles, the term, “renovate,” rarely, if ever, appears.

Still drawn to the search, I paused, and prayed. Then, I checked several dictionaries, and found definitions like these.

To renovate:

To make new,
to reinvigorate,
to restore,
to refresh.

Aha! All these words indicate:

Something needs changing for the better –
and someone is doing it!

This theme threads its way all through Scripture. That’s not surprising, for the Lord himself declares:

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland. (Isa. 43:19)

I am making everything new!
Write this down, for these words
are trustworthy and true. (Rev. 21:5)

Restoring the places long devastated

Nearly 200 years apart, two kings of Judah renovated the temple of the Lord. The two had several things in common. Joash became king when 7 years old. Josiah became king at age 8. Joash reigned 40 years; Josiah, 31.¹

The rulers who preceded each of them had ruled wickedly – and left the temple neglected and desecrated.

As Joash and, later, Josiah repaired and restored the temple, they also encouraged the restoration of true worship of God.

Yet at the end of his life, Joash made a terrible turnaround. He listened to the wrong people, abandoned the Lord, embraced idolatry, murdered the son of the godly priest who had raised him, left Judah open to invasion and died at the hands of his own officials.

By contrast, Josiah remained faithful to God all his life. As long as he lived, the people followed God too. Yet all of Judah’s kings after Josiah made the opposite choice. Collectively, persistently, the people abandoned God too.

Isaiah prophesied between the reigns of Joash and Josiah. He foresaw a time when the people of Judah would be exiled, humbled, heartbroken.

During that devastating time, they would not see renovation in their future. But God would! And Isaiah saw that too. Thus, the prophet wrote in Isaiah 61:1-4 of a people transformed by a renovating God: 

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations. (v. 4)

Reinvigorating spirit and soul

David loved God. And also, David sinned. At times, he sinned greatly; he treated other people shamefully. When God confronted David, he owned his sin and turned from it. Grieving his most wicked transgressions, David cried,

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
(Ps. 51:10)

David faced other issues that profoundly impacted his life. Perhaps most wrenching? For years, he was rejected, hated and hunted without cause. The people who treated him shamefully included King Saul – and David’s own father.²

In his psalms, David expressed his distress over the pain in his life. And also, he reminded himself:

The Lord is my shepherd …
He restores my soul. (Ps. 23:3)

Bless the Lord, O my soul …
[He] satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
(Ps. 103:5)

Jeremiah loved God. He prayed, with tears, on behalf of a people who had not yet owned their sin:

Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old. (Lam. 5:21)

And also, the weeping prophet testified in hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lam. 3:23)

Renewing his people daily

Thanks to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have even more reason to rejoice in God’s renewing love. Paul’s letters tell us why.

Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! (2 Cor. 5:17 MSG)

The new has come! … And, dear one, it is a process:

You stripped off the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it. (Col. 3:10 NAS)

Though our outer self is heading for decay, our inner self is being renewed daily. (2 Cor. 4:16 CJB)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, … do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Rom. 12:1, 2)

A promise and a prayer

For nine months now, God has helped me renovate a blog. In the process, he’s reminded me of a much bigger picture.

Just as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father,
we too can walk in newness of life.
Rom. 6:4 CEB

Having died to that by which we were bound,
we serve in newness of the Spirit.
Rom 7:6 NAS

This renovation takes a lifetime.

It’s ongoing – but never forced. Each step of the way, we choose whether to cooperate in our own renovation. Or not.

It’s also challenging – beyond challenging. We cannot do it in our own strength. Yet the Spirit of Christ makes a way – by grace.

Thank you, Lord! You are always working to make your people new.

When we do not see renovation in our future, grant us grace to look to you, wait for you, trust in you. Grant us grace to know, in our inmost being,

Those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
 (Isa. 40:31)

When we do not want to change, or do not know how to do it, or do not believe we can, grant us humility, courage, faith.

Even in all our humanness, Lord, may we hope in you. Each new day, may we walk in newness of life.

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Image by kevin ryan from Pixabay

Renovated! Seven refreshed reposts

→ The blessing of mourning. There is a time to mourn. And much fights against our doing it. But what short-circuits our grief also blocks us from Jesus’ promise of comfort and blessing.

→ A spirit like Caleb’s – fully following God. At a crucial moment in my life, Henry Blackaby and Caleb of old encouraged me: Regardless which way anyone else is rowing, you be filled with following God.

→ Darkness, betrayal and the heartbeat of God. It awes me again every time I see it. Leaning back on Jesus’ chest, at the moment of Jesus’ betrayal, John heard the heartbeat of God. (Originally titled, “God’s heartbeat.”)

→ When your world has changed. God taught them not to be driven by panic. He showed them a completely different way. When our world has changed, their story from long ago can help us too.

→ Heartcry of one who overcomes. “I so want to be a woman of grace in all this!” she cried, through deep, wrenching sobs. In that holy moment, I heard the heartcry of one who overcomes.

→ I AM the one you seek. The name “I AM” is the Lord’s treasure detector. When Jesus says it, he is urging, “Search for treasure here. I want to show you more of who I AM.”

→ Exploited in the church, I’m Leah no more. “I’m Leah!” I cried. I had given myself to a church culture that had used me and used me, while profoundly rejecting my personhood, my adulthood, my worth, me. (Originally titled, “Leah no more.”)

Footnotes

1. See 2 Kings 12 and 22; 2 Chronicles 24 and 34. ↩︎
2. I’ve written a 6-post series on David and his song of rest, Psalm 23. Two posts in that series relate to this post: (1) He restores my soul: Resting in God’s unforced rhythms; and (2) My cup overflows: Resting in God’s favor. That second post explores David’s mistreatment by his own father and his older brother, as well as King Saul. Also, the post, Resented without a cause, deals with recognizing and overcoming the kind of resentment David faced. ↩︎