How To Break Down Your Barbie Dream House

Hey there! Some of you are reading this because you subscribe to my site, some of you read my posts by me sharing on social media, and some of you because you Googled “How to break down Barbie dream house” (true story, and you are not the first!).

Whatever the reason you are here, I am thankful. However, I do want to be honest, and let you know that this post isn’t about how to take apart Barbie’s dream house, but if you Googled that, I really hope you stick around anyway!

One of my memories of growing up was always playing with Barbies. I had a ton of them. Barbie, Ken, Midge, Theresa, Skipper. I had them all.

Barbie had everything she could ever want. A wardrobe that would fit any occasion, from work to play, from beaches to weddings. She always had a smile on her face. A beautiful dream house that was never messy, and it never fell apart. In Barbie’s dream house there was no room for hardship, or anything that wasn’t happy.

Barbie never looked in the mirror, and didn’t like what she saw. She wasn’t insecure, and didn’t have confidence issues. She never felt like she wasn’t enough.

No, Barbie’s life was perfect. Picture perfect.

It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. Hebrews 10:14

I can’t remember if I had Barbie’s dream house when I was younger, but if I didn’t have it I am pretty sure that I wanted it. But there was another house that I wanted.

When my parents got married they bought two houses. One that they lived in and built a home in, and the other that they rented out, in hopes that one day one of their children would move in there, and it would eventually be an inheritance. I remember helping them clean out the house after renters moved out when I was in high school, and having the dream to live in that house one day.

That was in a way my dream house. And one day that dream came true, when my parents asked me to move in or they were selling. I was soon to be married, and the deal was we would pay them rent, and eventually when they pass away the house will be ours.

I was getting my dream. But my dream was happy, and it didn’t include life’s hardships. There was no room for broken relationships, sick children, mistakes, uncertainties, disappointments, a miscarriage, insecurities, fears, spilled milk on the carpet, a broken white picket fence, or a basement that sometimes has frogs in it! No, my dream didn’t include any of these things.

And your dream probably doesn’t either. But beautiful one, we don’t live in Barbie’s dream house, and it is time that we stop hoping that we will. Because until we break down the dreams we have of perfection, we will always live disappointed, empty, and unfulfilled.

So how do we break down our dream house that we have built?

We stop putting our hope in the things of this world. Our hope must be in Him, and Him alone. We are encouraged to stay firm in our faith, because a person with divided loyalty is “as unsettled as a wave in the sea that is blown and tossed in the wind”. (James 1:6) If our hope is in anything but Him, we will be standing on sinking sand instead of the Solid Rock which is Jesus.

We make a home in the Word of God. Please don’t gloss over this one. When Jesus began to recruit His disciples, He asked a couple of them what they were seeking to find, to which they replied Rabbi, where are you staying? Staying. Remaining. Dwelling. Abiding. Basically, they are asking where is your home?  Come and you will see, Jesus says.

When Jesus says “come”, He is answering their question in a much bigger way than these men probably expected. But they followed Him, and they remained with Him. They wanted truth, they believed He was the Messiah, and they abided.

And we can abide by making our home in His word, making it a part of our everyday life. By actively abiding in His truth, reading it, and receiving it, we are letting it take root in our lives. It is a place of comfort, a place of truth, and the place we will find everlasting hope. This is where we find the truth of who we are. Broken, but made whole by His precious blood shed.

Take Heart, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

We trust Him when He clearly says that In this world there will be trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Yikes! God never promises that life will be easy. Like ever. And if He doesn’t promise it, we shouldn’t expect it. What He does promise is that He is faithful regardless of our circumstances. He is unchanging, and unshaken. And one day He will wipe every tear from our eye and there will be no more death, no more tears, no more sorrow or pain (Revelation 21:4)… there is our dream home friends!

We choose endurance. God will never tell us to give up when things get hard. What He does do is encourage us to endure, and keep our eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to run our race with endurance, keeping our eyes on Jesus, who perfects our faith.  We keep going. We step out of our boat as He says come, and we keep walking towards Him, one step in front of the other until we see Him face to face.

And we trust that when we believe in Him, we receive the inheritance of eternal life. No one can ever take you away from Him. He is your guard and your protection. It is a promised inheritance that will never fade, or perish.

Believe it. Cherish it. Know it. Abide in it.