Discovering the Handwriting on the Wall

Posted on by Chris G Thelen

Years ago our friends were building a house and they gave us a tour of the roughed-in frame. As we walked through each room, I noticed they had scripture written on the beams and door posts throughout the house. “What a great idea,” I told them. They explained that they wanted their new home surrounded by the word of God. I decided to copy their idea, but never thought about the impact it might have years later.

In the 23 years we lived in our old house, I occasionally wrote scripture on the wall as we remodeled or repainted a room. Sometimes it wasn’t painted over if I scrawled it on a wall where a cabinet was placed or fastened to the wall. It was good to know God’s word was throughout our home. I didn’t consider its impact beyond that.

Three years ago we sold our house to my nephew and moved to another home. As we started to remodel our new home, I again started to write scripture on the walls to continue the tradition. Last week I was surprised when my nephew texted a picture to me showing some scripture he found written on the wall after he removed the old mirror above the bathroom sink. You can see in the picture below it is a passage from James.

“Looks like you left me an inspirational verse?” He wrote to me. He didn’t realize I scrawled that verse on the wall several years before we sold the house to him, but it appeared we left the verse for him. I took the opportunity to share more scripture with him in my response, praying his family would continue to deepen their faith in Jesus. It made me wish we hadn’t painted over other verses, that we had left more of them visible. I did tell him how we wrote scripture on the walls and usually painted over it, but he found one that was visible. “Now you know God’s word is all around you,” I added.

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

– James 1:23-23 (NIV)

© 2019 CGThelen

19 thoughts on “Discovering the Handwriting on the Wall”

    1. That’s what I thought when I discovered our friends doing it on their house. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12

  3. This is amazing! I just moved to a new house and I am LOVING this idea! Thank you so much for sharing this and your story. I had chills reading about your nephew. What a great way to start the day reading this! The Word of God is truly alive, blessings!!!!

    1. Yes, God’s word is truly alive. I love the way it intersects with daily life. I recently wrote Ephesians 6:14-17 on the wall of the bathroom behind the tub when we remodeled our bathroom. Blessings to you.

  4. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the DOORPOSTS OF YOUR HOUSE and on your gates…..Deuteronomy 6:4-9

      1. Amen!! God’s word, the true blueprint for our lives and living!!!

  5. You’re right – that is a great idea! So comforting to be surrounded and enveloped with God’s Word. (Ps 139.5 You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.)

  7. What an appropriate verse!
    When the “little community church” we attended had grown by leaps and bounds and needed a new facility, the congregation was invited out to the site of the unfinished building to write scripture verses on the beams and studs before the walls were filled in. A thousand or so people wrote their favorite verses of the Word of God – the true Foundation. I still love to remember how that building is saturated with words of Truth.

    1. God’s word is powerful. The other part of this story is that I responded to the opportunity to share God’s word with my nephew. If only I did that with all the opportunities God provided.

  9. Awesome. Yes, this is an act that we all need to apply. We too have done it with our re-modeling projects and hope it is discovered by new owners as a seed.

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