Desperate Heart, Beautiful Feet - Ep. 1 - Foundation Repair Specialist

Melena Rose Brown offers the first of her mini-ministry series highlighting content from chapters of her upcoming book, "Desperate Heart, Beautiful Feet: My Life Through Scripture and Song". "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7) "And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (Romans 10:15) “Foundation Repair Specialist” My husband is a Union Block and Bricklayer here in the city of Kansas City. Before joining the Union about 6 months ago, he spent 12 years doing foundation repair and other rebuilding projects on stone and brick structures such as retaining walls and porches. Despite being particularly proficient with bricklaying for someone so new to Union apprenticeship, he considers himself to be a “Foundation Repair Specialist.” He will be the first to tell you there is no foundation he can’t restore. When I think of how much God has done to repair the foundation of both of our lives, I find a parallel. Not to take anything from my husband, but God is truly a “Foundation Repair Specialist.” Ever since we become engaged to be married, my husband and I have prayed for God to strengthen our foundation, to bless our marriage, and to prepare us for our ministry and the family we desperately desire. I have kept a prayer journal off and on over the past year and a half, and since the first of this year, have tried to do so more consistently because I have really felt that as I read back over those entries, I can really see how God has answered prayers and worked in my life. On January 4, amongst the words of my written prayer was this passage,”…Strengthen us where we are weak. Not only strengthen our foundation, BE our foundation. Hold us up strong and sturdy and brilliant. We have felt so much rejection in our lifetimes, God. Your Word says ‘the block the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.’ Give us a great and important work to do for Your kingdom….” A few minutes after writing this out in prayer, I read from the Gospel of Matthew, and inadvertently came across Matthew 7:24-27, entitled “THE TWO FOUNDATIONS.” It reads, “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!” I felt this was God reassuring me that prayer was heard, reassuring me that we have indeed made Him the foundation, because we have heard His words, and we have built our house on the rock. Ephesians 2:19-22 tells us, “So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. The whole building, being put together by Him, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord. You also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.” That sounds solid to me. I trust He is a foundation that survives the toughest of storms and the lengths of all eternity. I asked my husband what the repercussions of a bad foundation are to a house. There can be severe water damage and flooding, the house can sink down in areas, and entire walls can buckle and cave in. My husband has actually been working on homes before when the foundation has finally given way and caused an entire stone wall to collapse. This is exactly what happened to me in my life before I moved my house onto the rock that is Yahweh God and Christ Jesus. I was unprotected and vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. I was sinking into depression and despair. Finally, I even collapsed, but God rebuilt my walls and set me atop His foundation. All I had to do was ask to be repaired, and God makes all things new! Right now, the winds are howling outside the 8th story window of me and my husband’s loft apartment with such force it sounds like the devil himself is violently shaking the panes trying to gain entry. But I have the peace of Matthew 7:25. “The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse because its foundation was on the rock.” We don’t yet own a house, and I don’t know who built this old building. I know my husband has never graced the foundation of this structure with his perfect handiwork, but I know that me and my husband, our marriage, and our lives are a sturdy and magnificent house, built on the unshakable foundation that is Yahweh God...."

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