So many, many times in my life it seems like when I am learning something specific, the information comes at me from a variety of angles and sources. And it seems to me that THIS is the Lord working all things for my good. I'm blown away by the attentive, gentle care of the Lord this week and by His great ability to speak to my heart in ways that I cannot miss (Good thing...I am often a bit thick.) From three separate sources He has spoken a word: Restoration.
I looked up restore on dictionary.com:
re·store (ri stôr′)
1. to give back (something taken away, lost, etc.); make restitution of
1. to give back (something taken away, lost, etc.); make restitution of
2. to bring back to a former or normal condition, as by repairing, rebuilding, altering, etc. to restore a building, painting, etc.
3. to put (a person) back in a place, position, rank, etc.
4. to bring back to health, strength, etc.
5. to bring back into being, use, etc.; reestablish, to restore order
I was BLOWN AWAY by those definitions! Ask me later about this privately, but every piece of this definition spoke specifically to me in regards to the losses of the past year! It is as if these definitions were written to apply to me. Hmmm...
Silly me, I often live my life saying, doing, thinking things that do not reflect the Lord's immense, loving care for me. When I have times like this past week, where He speaks so obviously, with such clarity and continuity, how can I not daily live like Jesus loves me dearly? How can I have those days where I wonder at His love? How quickly I forget. And how quickly I choose to live by my feelings instead of by the Truth that He loves me with an Everlasting Love.
This is one of the highest reasons I see to motivate me to look to Him daily. When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they were allowed to gather enough manna for only one day (except on the day before Sabbath, when they could gather enough for two days...Exodus 16:1-5). Obviously, we need to be reminded daily of His care. Seems as if it takes no time at all to lose sight of our True Source.
Last Sunday, our speaker told us that this is a sure sign of a self-righteous life: going through the day without connecting with Jesus. And I have to admit that in the crazy confusion of life, the stress, the busy-ness, I often do not take time for and with Him. And how very many, many times have I determined to do better, to try harder to make time with the Lord. I'll get up earlier. I'll stay up later. I'll try to get away by myself (Like that ever happens in a household of 6 people in a home with only 2200 square feet!). It is dawning on me that I need to quit trying so hard on my own and start making a U-turn, repent and let Him change me!
Lord, I give up, let the restoration begin.
1 comment:
this is beautiful, ferb. i so know what you mean about God speaking to us about the same thing from lots of different angles. it's like he has one message, but uses lots of different voices. it is so gentle, and often makes me see God's sense of humor!
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