I love home design, redesign, and all things “before and after.” I have no formal training but I am a visual person and if my space is ugly I have a difficult time focusing and feeling comfortable. Repurposing objects for a renewed life has always been a hobby. I am fortunate to have inherited some spectacular antiques and literally boxes of blue and white China, so these have been the backbone of my design for 30+ years. I also had a faux painting business, To Die Faux, until I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 42, when I closed it. But I still love to put some new paint on the walls (or ceilings or floors, sometimes to the dismay of my spouse!)

At age 52 God called me to attend seminary. (NEVER say God doesn’t have a sense of humor!) I left the corporate world where I had worked in sales for years. I honestly thought, “I have to give up all things design oriented, and just focus on God now.”  

Yay for a God focused life, but, ugh. What would I do with that love of design and DIY?

For my degree I completed a complex assignment called a “life story exegesis.” I will spare you the details except to say that its purpose was to help me “see” my overall design, the way God made me. The work guided me to the intersection of my “love” and my “power,” in order to show what God was calling me to do in my life. Because I thought going to seminary pushed all interest in home design outside the margins of my life, I ignored that love in my analysis.

But the questions and the design of the exercise forced me to look at my whole self, and that love of design kept coming back into my story. 

I could not ignore the fact that I love all things before and after. I love taking an item from a yard sale or consignment shop and giving it new life. I have only purchased one piece of new furniture in my life. Everything else has come from consignment stores (or the side of the road!) and been recovered, painted, stained or whatever was needed to give it new life and purpose. As I studied, contemplated and prayed about my own personal “design” I realized that I love transformation.

I also love God’s Word, and He has given me the gift of teaching and seeing applications, and the ability to show how a story can apply life today. I did not start attending Bible study until I was in my 30’s, and it turned my life upside down, in the best way possible. Studying the Bible transformed my life and my heart. (Of course, that’s its purpose!) God called me to seminary in my 50’s to supplement my given gift of teaching with a deeper knowledge and understanding of His Word. Today, my calling is to teach the Bible to others so that they will understand its power and allow it to transform their lives. I love transformation.

Transformation is at the core both in my physical world and my spiritual world. I love making old things new, whether it is furniture and homes or hearts and souls. “Before and After” is a key phrase for both my thinking and my actions in life.

As I remembered and wrote my life experiences for the assignment, I realized that the transformation I love to achieve in physical rooms and homes is a metaphor for the transformation that the Lord has worked in me. My love of physical design and decorating, restoration, and “Before and After” renovation magazines is a metaphor for the work that God does in the lives and hearts of His Children. He confirms this when He announces from the Throne of Heaven “Behold, I am making all things new!” (Revelation 21:5 ESV)

I am an example of God’s “before and after” design work in my own life! I am also called to help others realize and recognize that same “before and after” in their own lives. I love transformation of all types.

I study to know God’s Word and understand how to apply it to life today. Then, I share the transformation of my own “before and after” to help women understand the power of the Great Designer Himself. I teach the Bible to help women understand and apply God’s Word to their own lives. This lets me guide them from a life “before” they had an intimate and vibrant knowledge of God’s Word to a rich and Biblically grounded life “after” they have studied and applied God’s truth themselves. This opens the way for the ultimate transformation of lives available through a relationship with Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the great Designer of Souls. 

The Apostle Paul understood this transformation personally. He wrote to the people of Corinth “Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:15-18 NIV)

Paul speaks of the transformation God brings about in us when we turn to the Lord. As we grow in faith and in our relationship with God, we are progressively transformed. The phrase “when the veil is taken away” also makes me think of the “before and after” reveal scenario of design shows such as “Fixer Upper” or “Home Town.” At the conclusion of these design shows there is a “reveal” in which the owners see their properties beautifully transformed by talented designers and builders. That is a metaphor for the transformation the Lord does in the lives and hearts of His children.

As it turns out I love the before and after of the home, and I love the before and after of the heart. This is my design, my God shaped identity. I would not be fully happy without paying attention to and nurturing both aspects of my design, and I cannot completely ignore one for the other. God showed me that His perfect design for me means pursuing transformed hearts and while at the same time it is okay to transform the home where the heart lives. That was a gift.