Something New

There has been one word on my heart since junior year of high school. I cannot believe it is coming up on four years since that word first hit me. I wrote a paper on it for some sort of English/Composition class,  and I thought at the time that it would be a very difficult task to write four pages on one simple word: Restoration. However, I have learned over the past few years how much more I could write about this one little word.

In my paper, I gave the definition and expounded on that. However, I can now give you a peak into experiences of restoration in my own life. I have been learning so much about the grace of God lately. I know that sounds cheesy to the max, but the depth of God's grace is something so serious, so beautiful, so fierce, and so overwhelming. I have also had people I have never met come up to me and tell me my life was all about restoration for others. It makes sense with the goals I have for my life and the calling I feel God has placed on my heart. It's just incredible what I have learned from God's Word alone on the subject of restoration. All throughout the Psalms, you see the theme of restoration through prayers and remembrances of God's intervening and restoring hand.

ie:

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.

 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

-Psalm 51: 10-12

Just take a look at the Israelites. They fell away from God and pleaded for restoration of right relationship with Him over and over again. The book of Judges is the perfect example of this cycle. Furthermore, our own lives speak the most clearly out of any example I could give. We all know where we've messed up. We all as Christians know that we have been saved by grace through faith and that our own works did not do it, but through the gift of God's love and grace. What a beautiful picture of restoration. No matter how hard or far we fall, our Father is right there to bring us back to Him, just waiting for us to call out to Him.

Perhaps this is something one needs to experience and study for themselves to truly grasp the depth of all this--and then do it over and over again, as it can never be fully experienced or understood. God's loving and gracious restoration is so beautiful and beyond complete comprehension. What joy God's restoration brings to our hearts as well, when we realize that we did nothing and God still loves us the same, like parents whose young children cannot do a whole lot and yet are such a blessing and so lovable.

I started reading a great book, The Ragamuffin Gospel. It is a book that captures the beauty and reality of God's grace, and I cannot wait to read more of it. I've only read a couple chapters, but I recommend it already! If you are thirsty for the Bridegroom to bring restoration to your soul, I recommend, along with this book, that you study the Psalms and simply sit in the presence of God. Make every moment one in which you can experience and receive God's love and just offer what you have--a willing heart-- to Him. It sounds too easy sometimes, but God's grace is that miraculous!

Before I write a book, I will stop there. I was compelled to write on the restoration of God, and I am not sure if I really hit that target or not. However, I hope that somewhere in my rambles, you have found even a few words that will draw you and your Heavenly Father closer together.


"Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." 
-II Corinthians 2:11