GOOD NEWS FOR YOU
ROM BROKENNESS TO RESTORATION
God specializes in taking our brokenness, our heartaches, our mistakes, our sorrows and regrets and transforming them into something whole and beautiful. Psalm 147:3 reminds us that "He (God) heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds." Ps. 34:18 states – "The LORD is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Do you perhaps feel crushed or troubled today?
In Joel 2:25 God said - "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten..." What hard, sorrowful experiences have left you feeling that you have been overwhelmed or unsettled by the enemy? 1 Peter 5:10 assures us that "…the God of all grace... will HIMSELF restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
Abba Father loves to restore what you have lost, to make beauty from ashes and dry bones alive and active again for His glory. Don't believe the devil when he tells you that you have no purpose in life. Father God measures His purposes for us differently. He measures them with merciful love, grace, compassion and restoration. He is the Master Redeemer, Restorer and Rebuilder.
Psalm 126:5-6 reminds us that "Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them." Our sorrowful tears can turn to a productive, joyful harvest when Christ, through the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit, comes and heals and RESTORES us.
Isaiah 58:11 encourages us – "The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." THAT is complete restoration – to be restored from brokenness to wholeness, from darkness to light, from fear to courage, from anxiety to peace, from discouragement to hope and from drought to abundance!
God desires to re-establish and restore you in every area of your life so that every scar can become a testimony of His renewal and restoration, so that your story can become someone else's encouragement. Restoration is not only for your own good, but also for the benefit of Christ's Kingdom.
When we surrender our lives ENTIRELY and TOTALLY to God; the restoration process will begin. Part of restoration is what you believe God truly is – a loving Father who keeps His promises. Isiaah 43:19 says – "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive/notice/recognise it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert/wasteland." Sometimes we feel as if we have wasted years, yet our Lord wastes nothing, and He can redeem the time and even use that, which we think were useless or worthless, and turn it into good.
Have the walls of protection and safeguarding around your heart maybe been compromised or broken? Do you sometimes feel as if nothing can rebuild your hopes or your life? Our Lord God is the Master Architect, Planner and Builder and He delights in renovations, making useless vessels useful, beautiful and effective again.
Are you maybe in a pit of despair or troubles and not able to come out of it? Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch woman who, along with her family, saved many Jewish people during the Holocaust times, was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany in September 1944. She was mistakenly released the day before all the elderly women her age, were sent to the gas chambers. After her release, she ministered to the world about God's grace, love and forgiveness. She wrote – "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."
Blessed, holy and almighty Father God, Thank You for Your immense, deep love and that I can come to You in my brokenness and uncertainties, in my sorrows and losses. Thank You that You delight in rebuilding and using us for Your honour and glory. I humbly come to You and ask You to search me and forgive me for the many times I have doubted You or not believed and trusted in Your promises. Thank You that YOU are the Potter. I come to You as clay and ask that You please reshape and remake me into something useful for Your kingdom.