Do you have some crumbling ruins?

I don't know about you, but I've lived long enough and spent too many years of that time away from God to have created some major ruins in my life. When I hear the word ruins, I imagine some old city out in the middle of the desert with crumbling walls where owls and coyotes make their homes. Some place that in its former day was green and new and beautiful and bustling with people and prosperity, but some calamity befell it and now after years of neglect, it is just a pile of rocks.

Do you ever feel like that is your legacy? Like you've made so many mistakes in life that all you've left behind is a wreck heap? Well, I've often felt that way. I spent years way from God doing "my own thing", thinking that I knew better than my Creator what was best for me. Yea, right. How dumb is that? So, when I look back at my life, here 's what I see.  The crumbling wall of a failed marriage, a rock heap of ruined relationships, the dried up garden filled with weeds where children and grandchildren should be growing like strong vines, and a pile of trash filled with regrets and shame. 

There's nothing I can do about my ruins now. What happened was in the past. What I did has been forgiven. I can't go back. I must learn to live with the consequences of my actions. I must learn to live with my ruins.

But then....  I came across these verses in Isaiah

And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of buildings that have laid waste for many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. Isaiah 58: 11-12


And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4


And it hit me, God doesn't leave those ancient ruins there to rot. Maybe He leaves them there for a time to remind us that we need Him, to remind us of our mistakes so we never want to go back. But after we are past the point where we'll ever turn away from God and where we are wallking close with Him, He begins a rennovation project that will blow you away! He takes all that mess you created and creates a new city, a new legacy for you from the ashes.
You know what, I'm looking back on my ruins now, and I'm starting to see my Father picking up the pieces and rebuilding that city of my life the way He intended it to be. He started in my heart. He's working on my family, and He's moved me into His will for my life.  It's going to be a beautiful city!
 
And He can do the same for you!