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!