Congratulations!  You’re building a new house!

You’ve picked out your cabinets, your paint colors, your windows.  You’ve decided on your countertops, backsplash, and appliances.

You know exactly how you want everything to look.  You’ve scoured Pinterest for ideas on furniture and decor pieces.

It’s going to be gorgeous!

But there’s a problem when you drive up to the property site with your car full of goodies and your head full of dreams.

There is nothing in front of you but dirt and a great big hole.

Wait, what?

You were told you were building a new house. You were already envisioning it as your home and had everything lined up for things to be delivered and placed. You had visions of bright rooms and inviting living areas. You even bought everything that Joanna Gaines offered you at Magnolia Market .

But you forgot one important fact.

Every house needs to start with a foundation.

When I meet with new clients interested in doing home makeovers, their heads are usually spinning with questions about decor and new furniture.  They are excited to get going on their project.

I’m sure they’re a little disappointed when I tell them that if they are going to change out their floors, this has to happen before anything else.

First things first.

Everything else builds on a foundation. Whether it’s building a house or redecorating your home  you need to start from the ground up.

And make sure that foundation is a good one.

If you build a house on an unlevel or improper foundation, that structure isn’t going to hold up.  No matter what we fill it with or how pretty it looks, it isn’t going to stand up against the test of time and use and external forces.

If you put in new carpet on a cheap pad, it’s not going to hold up to what life does to it.

What about your life?

Do you envision beauty and great things for the house that is your soul?

Can you see where and how things should be?  Have you picked out what you’d like to see on the walls? Do you imagine your life as an inviting place where others feel at home and you feel at peace?

Have you shown up with “all the right stuff” only to find a lot of dirt and a big hole where your lovely house should be?

As a decorator, I’d love to help you decorate your house.  As your friend, I’d love to help you beautify your soul.

But first things first.

Your life starts with its foundation.

The only true foundation is Jesus. He is what your house, YOUR SOUL, was designed to be built on.

Your soul needs to secure its “footings” into something solid and immovable. Something that will stay put even when outside sources throw their weight against it.

Jesus is that Rock our soul needs.

Isaiah 28:16 – See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.

Paul said it like this:

Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 (The Message)

Without a relationship with Him, there is no basis, meaning or security in anything else we add on.  We can’t start building until we find our footing.

Trust me, I’ve tried. 

I tried to build my life, to construct my soul, on human relationships, my own strengths and abilities, my reputation.  They’re all great things, but none of them can carry the weight of my soul’s need for an eternal and rock solid foundation.  When I built my soul’s house on any of those things, one way or another my grounding would shift, falter or completely fall out from under me.

I needed a foundation that would not fail me.

You can have all the right stuff.  Good family and friends. Great habits like prayer and reading the bible.  You might have all the right words and a perfect church attendance record.

You may have a great career and a hefty bank account.  Maybe your kids are in ivy league schools and you’re well-known and well-liked. You might have talent out the kazoo.

But that’s all just stuff.

If the relationship with Jesus isn’t there, then doing or having all those things is no better than putting all your furniture and decor in a hole on a plot of dirt.

Your soul’s foundation determines the strength of your “house” and everything in it.

We’re building a house here.  A thriving, beautiful soul.

Let’s start with the foundation.

Have you found yours?  Do you need to rediscover or remember it?

Are you not sure what the heck I’m talking about and have questions?

I’d love to talk with you about it.  You can talk with me here at The Jarvis House or privately at janajarvis82@gmail.com.

***And along the lines of starting from the ground up, as promised, I’m showing you the step by step progress of restoring my converted garage into a haven of rest and renewal of souls. I had to follow my own advice and start with the floors:

Before…Nasty carpet, complete with dog stains. Nothing welcoming or peaceful about it.

And After…A clean ground of rich beauty.  My “firm foundation” for restoration of this room and helping it to become what it was meant to be.

Next:  Addressing The Walls…