A Lesson on Faith | Household of Faith

What Pressure Washing My Deck Taught Me About Faith

My summer is nearing an end, which means that I’m in crunch-time project-mode. I have been working on projects over the summer, little by little; but now that summer is almost over, I need to complete my list and pressure gets things done around here! Recently, I was pressure washing my deck—well, it’s more of a boardwalk–and not only does it look so much better (!), but God also used it as a lesson on faith.

In case you’re wondering why it matters—the carpet-cleaning lesson on sin and this pressure-washing lesson on faith,—it’s because I have a couple of kids who learn best through parables and word pictures. So when these come to my attention, I keep them handy, as they connect the dots when teaching my kids. There’s a reason Jesus taught with so many parables! I might as well use it too!

My pressure washer is new. My boardwalk is a few years old—maybe more like four or five already actually. When we put it in, we put weather guard on it, but we haven’t continued annually like we should have. That thing was so caked with dirt that it blended in with the ground! I didn’t even realize how bad it was until I started cleaning it. Now, I have never used a pressure washer and of course, one of my sons wanted to try it out right away. He had the pressure too strong, and he ended up leaving a pretty big gouge in the wood on the edge.

Once we set the pressure just right, it cleaned the mud and crud off beautifully and my boardwalk looks like new! Seriously, the pressure washer just might be my new favorite thing!

But of course, it got me thinking.

Many Christians, including myself at times, expect life with Christ to be all beautiful and no crud. But just like the build-up on my boardwalk, there is crud! There is build-up from sin—heart issues, bad attitudes, selfishness, and just the conviction that I have not loved God with my whole heart…ever! For myself, there is also the build-up of not needing God for everything.

I think we all do it. (It’s not just me, right?) We spend more time with God when we need Him more. So, maybe if things are going well in your marriage and things are going well financially, of course we still spend time with Him, but we just aren’t as desperate for Him in our lives.

And then…the pressure wash has to happen. Pressure. Pressure makes diamonds. But as my son learned, too much pressure can also cause damage. Pressure—actual pressure—can be painful and difficult to make it through, if you’re not an inanimate object.

Think of the pain that pressure can cause just in your ears when you’re in an airplane, or driving up a hill. Pressure can be painful. But pressure can also be necessary.

No amount of scrubbing would have gotten the same results. It looks brand-new again. The only thing that could have cleaned it like that is pressure.

Sometimes, we have to go through hard things in our lives, our marriages, parenting, or with our health in order to change into the people of faith God wants us to be. He uses pressure to do that. However, God never gives more pressure than we can handle.

This world will leave some battle scars on us, but the Lord will never mar us with too much pressure. He promises to get it just right in order for us to become new again.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about Salvation here. Once you are a believer in Christ, you are made new and you don’t need to be washed by the blood of the Lamb again and again. If you have believed in Christ and surrendered your life to Him, you are saved.

I am talking about sanctification though and of building your faith. Once you have surrendered your life to Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit, who gives a natural desire to become more like Christ. Do you know what part of being like Jesus I like to just gloss over? He SUFFERED. Talk about a pressure chamber! He knew that He would be crucified even though He was innocent and chose to do it anyway…for me. For you.

I mean, sure. The fact that He suffered and died for me is the very foundation of my faith, so it’s not that I want to forget it completely. But in the quest to become more Christ-like, I don’t love that part!

However, just as He calls us to love like He does; to walk blamelessly like He does; to become righteous and holy like He is; to love justice and to be merciful and to pair truth with love just like He does, He also calls us to suffer sometimes.

Friend, you could say that I’m in a pressure chamber right now. It’s not the same kind of suffering that Christ had to do, and compared to the persecution of Christians all over the world, it is absolutely nothing. But there is a point of pain in my life that I am struggling with right now. And it is absolutely teaching me a lesson on faith! I have to figure out whether or not I’m going to allow the pressure to break me…or refine me.

Part of me wants to just run from it, but I know there’s nowhere to go. I know that the Lord will use only the right amount of pressure and will not give me more than I can handle. And I know I can thank Him for it because He brings me to my knees.

As a mom, you probably find yourself getting pressure washed more often than not! I just hope that you can think of my beautiful, restored boardwalk and know that there is purpose in the pressure!