restore...part 2

The words restore and restoration are in my spirit and on my mind.  They are my God-given words for 2018, and I am convinced God spoke them to me because they bring hope and excitement for the future!  As you know, I'm a words person.  And I love to study words, so I looked up the word restore on dictionary.com.

restore: 1) to bring back into existence, use, or the like; reestablish; to restore order.  2) to bring back to a former original or normal condition, as a building, statue, or painting.  3) to bring back to a state of health, soundness, or vigor.  4) to put back to a former place, or to a former position, rank, etc.  5) to give back, make return or restitution of (anything taken away or lost).  6) to reproduce or reconstruct in the original state.

And I went to my Bible...

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

And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself RESTORE you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.  1 Peter 5:10

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He RESTORES my soul.  Psalm 23:1-3

God is the God of restoration.  He restores hearts and spirits and relationships.  He restores health and hope and peace.  If you don't believe me, read the book of Job in the Bible.  Job lost everything...family, possessions, health, friends...but God restored it all and more.  God's number one goal is restoration of the relationship between us and Him.  That's why He sent Jesus to the earth as a human...to be the sacrifice for our sins, to bridge the gap between us and God, to make relationship restoration possible!  All we have to do is ask Him to forgive us and receive restoration...what an amazing gift!

2017 has been a year of loss and hard situations, but God showed me that He has been preparing me for restoration.  I imagine myself as a beautiful, antique dresser with layer upon layer of paint covering the wood from my own attempts at restoration.  The last year has been a process of stripping away those layers and letting go of things that I held too tightly.  Once the paint is gone, the dresser can be sanded and stained, RESTORED to its intended condition with the beautiful grain of the wood showing through. There might be scratches and scars visible, but they only add to the character.  The dresser becomes a thing of beauty and functionality, with no question about its purpose.  

My prayer for 2018 is for restoration.  God, restore my spirit and my soul completely to You.  Use me to bring restoration of relationship between You and the people around me.  Restore to me the joy of my salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.

Let the restoration begin!

in the fire

In the Fire

Uncomfortable and sometimes painful

the fire in my life

I'd avoid it if I could

Cleansing and purifying

burning up the chaff

purging impurities and imperfections

Releasing seeds to grow

hope for the future

refined in the fire

Dawn Karr, 10/5/17

I've heard it said that you can see what is really inside of a person when she is under pressure.  I'm certain the same is true when she is standing in the fire.  I've seen the ugliest parts of me come out in the last several months.  I have to confess that I haven't liked what I've seen myself do and what I've heard come out of my mouth.  It's been snarky, and angry, and short-tempered.

Gold and silver are refined by fire.  The ugly things that are in them are simply brought to the surface and burned up.  What remains is more pure and more beautiful than it was before.  Yes, that is what my heart desires...that God would purify me in this hard time.  But the fire is hot and uncomfortable and it brings out the worst in me.  

God reminded me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego this morning. They found themselves in the fire after choosing to worship God rather than Nebuchadnezzar's idol.  And a 4th Man joined them!  Few are the friends who are willing to stand with us in the fire, but Jesus always will!  They came out unharmed...and the Bible says they didn't even smell like smoke!  

For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver.  You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.  You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance.  Psalm 66:10-12

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  Isaiah 43:1-2

I've made my choice.  I'm going to let the fire do its purifying work in me.  And I pray that when God calls me out, I will come out shining!

grieve with hope

Grief is a hard thing.  There is no formula, no right or wrong way to do it.  Grief is as unique as the people who are going through it.  Every day, people are losing loved ones.  Sadly, goodbyes are a part of living and grief is necessary.

But, the Bible says we can grieve with hope.  Brothers we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men , who have no hope.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus, those who have fallen asleep in Him.  (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14) 

John 3:16 says...For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

My mother-in-law left this earth on Thursday.  We miss her, but we are grieving with hope.  I am confident that she believed in Jesus and I know that she is in heaven right now rejoicing and worshiping God.  She is free from pain and fear and sorrow!  And I am grateful that we can grieve with hope!

restore

My heart was a mess.  Broken from the loss of my furry girl in October, I had made valiant but unsuccessful efforts toward piecing it back together.  Hurt again by several other situations in the weeks to follow, my heart never made a full recovery.  On November 10, my car was rear-ended and declared a total loss by the insurance company.  Not only did I lose the car, I lost money, and time, and sleep.  By the end of this past week, my heart was in worse shape than my car.  Anger, frustration, hurt, and disappointment had taken up residence and wreaked havoc on my heart and my attitude.

Flashback time...two weeks ago my church had a Thanksgiving feast together.  Two members of my church family came to sit with me...Divine appointment.  One of them told me "you are the light!"  The other prayed for me that I would let God's light shine in and through me.  We talked about letting God guard our hearts.  Nothing changed for me that day (I was stubbornly hanging on to my emotions about everything!), but I held on to their words.

Fast forward to yesterday...I finally got tired of my own bad attitude.  I had it with the devil stealing from me.  I was missing out on the joy of my favorite season, and I think that got to me more than anything else. I prayed a short, but desperate prayer, "God help me!  I need to hear from you!"

He whispered one word...restore.  And then a scripture prayer from King David...
Create in me a clean 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

I am so grateful for David's example in the Bible.  God called him a man after His own heart, and yet, David was human and he sinned and he needed God to work on his heart.  I prayed David's prayer yesterday.  First as a repentant prayer.  And then many times after to remind me of the precious promises of God in those words.

This morning I awoke with excitement and enthusiasm and joy that I haven't had in months!  God answered my prayer!  He restored my heart and I believe that He will restore the things that have been taken from me too!  I am ready to let the light of Jesus shine through me again!!!

If you need to be restored during this glorious Christmas season, ask God.  He can restore all things!