The Foundation Wasn't Destroyed: When God Moves the Bricks of Your Life

The Foundation Wasn't Destroyed

Sometimes God speaks in the places we least expect.

Not in a church.

Not during a conference.

Not while reading my Bible.

Sometimes He speaks while you're making Walmart deliveries.

That's exactly what happened to me.

I was delivering groceries to a home in Northwest Arkansas when something caught my eye. It wasn't the house. It wasn't the landscaping.

It was a single brick in the foundation.

Stamped into the face of that brick were these words:

I.B. Co.IOLA, KAS.

I stopped.

Iola, Kansas?!

I used to live in Iola!

Immediately my curiosity was stirred. How did a brick from a small town in southeast Kansas end up in the foundation of a house hundreds of miles away in Northwest Arkansas?

I learned that the bricks had once been part of the foundation of a building in Iola. When that building was torn down, the foundation wasn't simply discarded. The bricks were carefully salvaged, transported to Arkansas, and used again as the foundation of another home.

As I stood there looking at that weathered brick, I felt the Lord whisper to my heart,

"REV, that's your story."

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Years ago, I lived in Iola, Kansas.

Today, I live in Northwest Arkansas.

Like that brick, my life had been uprooted and moved.

And suddenly I realized something.

The building had been torn down.

The foundation had not.

When It Feels Like Everything Is Falling Apart

There are seasons in life when it feels like everything familiar is being dismantled.

A ministry changes.

A career ends.

Relationships shift.

Dreams we thought would last forever suddenly disappear.

Sometimes it feels as though the very foundation of our lives is being demolished.

I've experienced seasons like that.

There have been dreams that didn't unfold the way I imagined. Doors I prayed would open remained closed. Ministries that once seemed central to my identity slowly changed. I have wrestled with wondering if I had somehow missed God or if pieces of my life had been wasted.

Maybe you've felt that too.

When we experience these moments, it's easy to assume that destruction is God's final word.

But what if it isn't?

The Foundation Wasn't Destroyed

That brick reminded me of something profound.

The building in Kansas was destroyed.

The foundation wasn't.

Someone looked at those old bricks and decided they still had value.

They were worth preserving.

Worth transporting.

Worth building upon again.

The structure above them changed, but the foundation remained.

As I reflected on that, I sensed the Lord saying,

"Your foundation wasn't destroyed. It was relocated."

That changes everything.

Maybe what you call loss is actually transition.

Maybe what feels like demolition is actually preparation.

Maybe God is taking everything He has built into you over the years and placing it beneath something larger than you could have imagined.

God Never Wastes a Brick

One of the greatest lies we believe is that if a season ends, everything we learned during that season has been lost.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Every lesson.

Every victory.

Every failure.

Every tear.

Every miracle.

Every disappointment.

Every act of obedience.

God wastes none of it.

Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28 that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Notice he doesn't say all things are good.

He says God works them together for good.

He is the Master Builder.

He knows exactly where every brick belongs.

Some bricks spend decades beneath one structure before being moved beneath another.

Their purpose changes.

Their location changes.

But their value never does.

Living Stones

Peter writes,

"You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house." ~1 Peter 2:5

Peter doesn't call us concrete.

He calls us living stones.

Living stones are moved intentionally.

Placed intentionally.

Positioned intentionally.

Sometimes God shifts us because what He wants to build next requires us to be somewhere else.

The move doesn't diminish our value.

It reveals His purpose.

Looking Back

As I reflect on my own journey, I see Kansas.

I see Arkansas.

I see years of preaching on motorcycles.

I see seasons of hiddenness.

I see victories.

I see disappointments.

I see my time at Bethel.

I see writing books about grace.

I see questions that once frustrated me but now fuel my teaching.

Years ago, I might have thought these were disconnected chapters.

Today I see them as bricks.

Every one of them.

God has been laying a foundation I couldn't fully appreciate while I was living it.

Perhaps He has been doing the same for you.

A Better Perspective

We often pray for God to build something new while grieving the demolition of something old.

But construction often begins with dismantling.

Not because the foundation has failed.

Because the Builder has something greater in mind.

That old brick from Iola now sits beneath a different house in a different state, supporting a different family than it ever imagined.

Its story didn't end when the first building came down.

In many ways, that's where its greatest purpose began.

Maybe yours is too.

Final Thoughts

I don't believe finding that brick was an accident.

It wasn't just a piece of history.

It was a reminder.

Not every ending is destruction.

Not every loss is failure.

Sometimes God lovingly dismantles what has served its purpose so He can reposition the very foundation for something greater.

As I drove away to make my next Walmart delivery, I couldn't help but smile.

Who would have thought that God would preach a sermon to me through an old brick?

Every time I think about that brick stamped "IOLA, KAS.", I remember this truth:

God has never wasted a single brick of my life.

He isn't destroying my foundation.

He is building upon it.

And maybe the greatest thing He has ever built with it is still ahead. ~ REV