The God Who Restores
I was sitting across from a friend, sharing a meal earlier in the week.
We started talking about God, and where we are with Him at the moment, and I shared with her about this one particular thing I had been struggling with.
It was great getting another perspective on it, and as we talked, it became clearer and clearer that God was allowing the struggle so that He could do something new. Restore something that had been broken.
‘But this has been there for years,’ I said, ‘so why now?’
My friend shrugged, and smiled.
‘His timing,’ she said.
I guess my question showed up a bit of unbelief that has crept in over the years. Almost like, I’ve lived with this scar for so long that maybe it’s here to stay. It feels so much a part of me now that, truth be told, I don’t even know if God can actually change it.
‘Faith as small as a mustard seed,’ my friend said to me.
And I have that much faith.
I’m realising the possibility of becoming complacent in my expectation of God, accepting of the areas of hurt, when my God rises with healing in His wings Mal.4:2.
We serve a God that restores.
It is His nature to restore beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning Is.61:3. To heal the brokenhearted Is.61:1.
He restores our very soul, the psalmist says Ps.23:3.
And He suffered the Cross, and death, that we should be eternally restored to the Father.
There is no pain so deep that it escapes God’s notice and His most tender compassion. There is no brokenness so longstanding that it is too hard for Him to take gently in His hands and heal.
Ours is the God Who restores, and He longs for us to know such power and such love.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory Eph.3:20-21
Thank you for emailing me about this entry B. It really encouraged me today. Hope all is well with you. Love and blessings XO
You are so beautiful.
A couple of quotes came to mind as I read this oh so transparent post of yours.
The first is:
“Do you love your faith so little that you have never battled a single fear lest your faith should not be true? Where there are no doubts, no questions, no perplexities, there can be no growth.”
-George MacDonald
The second is:
If all you want is cheap certitude, that’s easy enough to come by. Just land on some opinion one way or the other, tell yourself you’re certain, and that’s that. No wrestling with doubt, no dark night of the soul, no costly agonizing over the matter, no testing yourself with hard questions. Just accept a secondhand assumption or a majority opinion or a popular sentiment or an inherited tradition as the final word and settle into certainty. You don’t have think about it ever again. Ignorance is bliss. So is certitude.
Both are taken from a blog titled “Veritas” by Brian Zahnd. You can read it in entirety here: http://www.brianzahnd.com/index.php?app=blog&p=270
Isn’t it great to have friends that speak to us the truth?
Hi Birgit
The message in church yesterday made me think of you… It was from Acts 12, the the main lessons from the scripture was that
1. Things that happen to us are never straightforward
2. Nothing is too little or too big to pray for
3. God is always in control
Like many other things, we don’t know why James was put to death probably in the same prison from where Peter was released from by God. But we can trust God and pray for these things that seems so complicated sometimes, and rest in the fact that He remains in charge.
Love you, D
I read this piece – beautiful as always – and just broke down in tears on coming across the words ‘brokenness’ and ‘restore’. I lost someone extreemly dear to me on 25th June. Since then, my life has spiralled out of control – lost a stone, cannot work or think straight, spend every day in tears or prayer. I have always been strong despite many early childhood traumas, but I still can’t get over this and doubt I ever will. Yes, maybe faith as small as a mustard seed. Many questions…why would God allow this to happen to such a good soul who had so much love to give, three young children and had inspired so many, including myself. I can’t live with the thought that I will never see him again whilst the evil, greedy and wicked prosper in this world. What sort of a world is this and who is controlling it when devastating things like this happen? When I found out, I was preparing for a manically busy month with most of the ventures all for God. Indeed, I wasn’t even aware of the death until the next day, since I was worshipping with my church community. I am so desperately sad right now. Nothing can restore this person back into the world and therefore nothing can restore my strength or my joy. I can’t accept this has happened so suddenly and without a chance to say goodbye :-((((
Dee, my heart just breaks for you, reading this. I am so, so sorry to hear of your loss. It truly must be an extremely painful time for you, and for all those who knew and loved this precious man.
I completely understand how this will have knocked your faith and caused many questions and doubts.
Dear friend, can I just pray for you right now?
Father God, I lift Dee to You right now. Lord, I know that You can see every part of the pain and grief and sadness that she is experiencing, and that Your heart breaks for her and that You have the deepest compassion for her. Lord, would You hold her tenderly in Your hands. Would you minister such comfort to her. Would she know the peace of Your presence. Would You shield her and guide her in the time ahead. Thank You, Father.
Dee, I will follow up with an email and if you would like, perhaps we could speak on the phone this week?
With love, Birgit.
To dear G, @ngie, and Des, thank you so much for your really wonderful thoughts here, just to let you know that I’ll be following up with proper replies real soon :) Love to each of you xo
Oh Birgit, thank you so much. God seems so far away right now and neither prayers that I will wake up and it will all be a nightmare, or prayers to bring him back (He did it with Lazerus, is it too much to ask once more?), or prayers for Him to take me from this world are not being heard. Thank you so much for such a lovely prayer. You have a beautiful heart and a lovely spirit. When will the pain end, Lord? I am crying out but no replies. I cannot see what I am typing properly through the tears so I will end here but just wanted you to know that I value and appreciate your kind words xxxxxxxx
Much love to you Dee. I am interceding for you, know that you are being lifted to Him xoxo
“You shine like stars in the universe as you HOLD OUT (hold on; wait upon) the word of life,” Phil. 2:16. Imagine how very painful it would be if God simply ripped out the root of our shame, our sin, our worries, troubles. I’ve often wished He would but then I realize He’s much too gentle for that. He lets things heal a bit before going deeper. As frustrated as I get, and I do, it helps to know (not that I take comfort in your pain) that we can share these times in order to comfort one another.
Hi G, so lovely to hear for you :) All is well with me thanks. Praying for you. Lots of love xo
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@ngie, these quotes are incredible. The words so perfectly capture what it’s like to wrestle to come to answer or some kind of resolution when we struggle in our faith, and in our relationship with God. And it’s so true for me at least, that as I hold onto Him regardless, He brings me through in a way that somehow deepens my faith, or gratitude, or my love for Him.
@ngie, I so love our blogging friendship, and the thoughtfulness and encouragement you always bring. With love to you xo
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Des, this was so encouraging, thank you. There’s such reassurance knowing that our God is perfectly in control, as difficult as things may be at times, and also that He does hear as we pray to Him. Lots of love to you :)
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I love this Scripture, Hope. Just the idea that we shine with His glory as we hold fast to His Word! :) And I so relate to your point about God’s timing and His gentleness as He heals us. It amazes me how perfect His timing is – He knows exactly when to lay His hand upon an area of our lives and to reveal the wound or the sin that is there, and then to go about the process of healing and release. It may be that this particular thing has been there for years, but it’s as if He has appointed the season of restoration,
and He does with such tenderness and patience.
Birgit, I love our blogging friendship too. :-) Thinking of you today…
This is very encouraging Birgit. I am so thankful that we have these promises from God, and that His words are true because He cannot lie. And maybe one day when we look and we are able to see through His eyes we will understand how everything was safely in His hands and under His control and His timing as you say, all along, and in all our worry and fear and concern He had never left us and was working for our good.
Rain, I think that what you have said is a lovely thought, but I wonder, in the midst of grief and despair, whether it is true or whether we are simply believing it because it feels nice and gives us comfort. Good people doing fabulous work are dying young whilst the bad prosper. The sudden death of a young parent leaves children parentless and often without the love and suppport they need to grow into fully complete adults. Rain, you say ‘his words are true because they never lie’ but He tells us that He will not put us beyond what we can bear. Yet He knows the very thing He can take from us to destroy us, and when He still insists on taking that away, especially if that was someone precious who was doing such good work in and through Him, then how can this be working for our good? The only way I can see that this could be so is if we, out of a desire for wanting His motives to be good and just, convince ourselves without any proof whatsoever.
Hi Dee, I’m not sure if Rain will see your thoughts here, so I thought I’d leave a reply just in case.
What you say is very true – that God allows us to suffer. I have struggled with this. I find it confusing and painful and it has knocked my faith at times. Sometimes I have even felt it is a denial or naive to believe that God is good in those times. The truth is, I don’t have an answer.
From some things I have gone through, the one thing I have learnt is that even in these very painful times, He has not left me. I may reject Him for a while in my pain, but He stays, and after time, I have found comfort in His presence. I have also experienced Him rebuild hope, where I had lost hope.
It’s interesting you should mention Romans 8:28 – the assurance that all things will be worked together for the good of those who are the called according to His purpose. I am just entering a stage in my relationship with God where I am beginning to see evidence of this – difficult things that happened 2 years ago, 5 years ago, 12 years ago, and having no idea why God allowed these, and only now, after all this time, beginning to see how He is working through these for good, bringing beauty from the ashes. I’m also aware that perhaps with some things that happen in my life, I won’t see such an outworking of His goodness, but I do hold out hope, that I will see this when I stand before Him in the end, and I am given understanding of His purposes.
I am not sure if my experiences will help in anyway, but I hope in some way they offer some encouragement.
One other thing – there is the picture that I love, that always ministers to me, and I have written a post all about – the post is called ‘Held by Jesus’ – I wonder if the picture might bless you too? The link is – http://birgitwhelan.com/2007/11/23/held-by-jesus/
With love to you.
Dear Rain, I have the same hope, that when we stand before in His glory, we will see His purposes, and His goodness in all that we experienced, even the painful, confusing things.
Your love for God, your humility, your encouraging heart, and your trust in Him are precious, and an inspiration to me as your friend. With love to you xo
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@ngie – :) XO
Dee, I can never know how deep your pain is but my heart understands what you must be feeling. I’ve been at places where it felt like it was all too much to bear, where I’ve thought I won’t make it through. I promise you Jesus is with you. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms… When you think you are at your lowest low, remember His arms are even below that, when you think you cannot bear it, it is He who bears on your behalf. Keep crying out to Him like you are doing, He won’t fail you, even if nothing makes sense now, just keep running to Him. May you know His love and comfort as He holds you.