Introduction

Fixer Upper was a HGTV reality show that featured Chip and Joanna Gaines who took the worst house in the neighborhood and completely transformed it into the client’s dream home. We are all “fixer uppers.” Maybe we could use some reconstruction in our lives. Jesus looks at our mess and brokenness with different eyes. He is ready and willing to take the things that are not working, or need to be revitalized and transform our hearts to make them fit to be His home.

Scripture

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17). “A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands” (Prov. 14:1).

Decorations

Decorate reflecting the simple farmhouse style of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper.” Mason jars with nuts/bolts, a variety of simple tools and hard hats can serve as the table décor. Set up a photo booth where the women can grab a prop (hammers, wrenches and hard hats) and strike a pose. Cutout houses could be used as a backdrop for the booth.

Refreshments

Serve party snacks with a construction themed twist: Cheese puffs as “wrecking balls,” Chex mix as “nuts and bolts,” Veggie Straws^® as “2x4s,” and Bugle Chips^® as “safety cones.” Set up an ice cream cone “construction cones” station, with lots of toppings. It would be helpful to label each refreshment item. To further enhance the theme, use new paint tins and trays as serving dishes.

Program Ideas – Paint Sample Bookmarks

Invite the women to make bookmarks using paint chip samples. They can add their names with alphabet stickers or paint pens. To finish off laminate, punch a hole and tie with a ribbon.

Demo Day

Provide the women with safety goggles, plastic construction hard hats, hammers and small sections of drywall. Invite them to visualize something in their life that is holding them back as they demolish the drywall. Talk about the fact that sometimes it is necessary to tear down and remove things in our lives that are detrimental before we can build something new. This may be best as an outside activity

Fixer Upper

Using art supplies invite the women to decorate cardboard playhouses, which are available at Oriental Trading Company^®. Or print images of house floor plans and invite the women to choose their dream house. Search under “images of house floor plans.” To aid in their dreams, have available house and furniture design magazines for them to peruse as they decorate the various rooms in their dream house. An alternate idea is to invite the women to make over one room in their home, if money were no object.

Nuts and Bolts Bingo

Use nuts, bolts and screws as place markers on the traditional Bingo board.

Fixer Upper

There is a house that I love. It is not mine, but I admire its structural beauty. Magnolia trees line the gentle curve of the drive and the neatly trimmed lawn and carefully curated rose bushes are warm and inviting. At first glance, you would assume that it is equally stunning on the inside, but upon further inspection, it is clear that there are secrets hidden within its walls and corridors. In reality, its interior is riddled with neglect, tenuously supported by a crumbling foundation.

Are you a fan of HGTV’s Fixer Upper program? In the show Chip and Joanna Gaines, a Christian couple from Waco, Texas, run a home renovation business that has become a financial empire. The show followed the Gaines family as they take a home that is often falling apart and completely transform it into a masterpiece dwelling.

I am not much of a house fixer upper. The remodeling process seems daunting. Stripping away layer after layer of dirt, grime, stains and ugliness is not the way I would choose to spend my day. The idea of having to remove rotten kitchen cabinets from the walls and rusty appliances in order to rebuild simply does not hold any appeal for me. Why not just buy a home that is move–in ready?

However, I am grateful that God does not feel that way about me. Over the course of my life, my Heavenly Father has gently stripped away old fears and insecurities. He renovated the walls of my heart, tearing away undisciplined thoughts and rusty old dreams. Even though we cannot always see how Jesus is working in our lives, we can be confident that He is making us into a new creation every day by transforming our brokenness into lives fit for His dwelling.

The reality is that we are all “fixer-uppers.” We all need work. Take a good look at your heart today and in full surrender allow the Lord to do His work. It might be a little painful, requiring structural changes and foundational reinforcements; but as we are reminded in Scripture, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor. 5:17).” The Father loves you and His great desire is to make your heart His home. He is ready and willing to work on your behalf to transform and renovate you into a new creation, a woman of God who is becoming more and more like Christ.