Tag Archives: god restores us

August 12, 2025 · 5:30 AM

The Hope Of Restoration

Isaiah 35 is such a hopeful chapter in the Bible that’s full of Gods promise to us. It starts out saying, “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God” hNLT). This reminds us that God will cause the barren season and places in our life will become places of beauty. I believe God uses the wilderness to reveal Himself to us more clearly.

The next verse says, “With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees.” When we’re in a wilderness season, we need this declaration of hope to keep us going. We must remember that the place we’re in is not permanent and that God will bring beauty from the ashes of the place we’re in. He wants us to keep digging into His Word no matter how down trodden we feel, and to keep praying on our knees no matter how weak they feel. Your prayers are being heard in Heaven and a fruitful season of restoration is on the way.

This part of the beautiful promise wraps up in verse 4 by saying, “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.’” Divine intervention is on its way. God is going to move to set things right. It may not be today, or as soon as you would like, but it is coming. He is not distant from you, nor is He unaware of this place you’re in. The wilderness will bloom. The dry places will flow with water. There will be growth and beauty again. Take strength and encouragement from these verses today. You have the promise and hope of restoration coming.

Photo by Jack Deng on Unsplash

3 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 8, 2024 · 5:41 AM

Pressure Testing

A lot of industries use pressure testing to evaluate the integrity of what they’re building. These tests can see what the max load is and also reveal any weaknesses that may not be visible otherwise. The same holds true for people. We all have our limits. Being under pressure for long periods of time can reveal areas we need to grow in, but it can also strengthen areas of our life. When areas weakness show up, we can either deny that it exists, make excuses, run from it or find ways to streNgthen and restore them. A lot of us default to denial, making excuses or running from it. We don’t like having these areas exposed, but the process is critical to our growth.

When Peter followed Jesus after He had been arrested, he had no idea he was going to be pressure tested. He had just told Jesus he would die for Him and that even if all the others abandoned Him, he wouldn’t. In John 18, a young girl simply Asked if he was one of Jesus’ disciples. Peter denied it. Then a guard asked him, but Peter denied it again. Right after that, a man said he saw Peter in the garden and Peter vehemently denied it. In that moment of pressure, Peter failed. We know that Jesus didn’t leave him in that broken state though. In John 21, Jesus took Peter aside and restored him making him stronger than before. When the time came to deny Jesus or face death, Peter was crucified.

1 Peter 5:10 says, ”And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up“ (TPT). Suffering is often a pressure tester. Whatever it reveals is not the end or a mark of failure. It’s a sign that God has more work to do in that area of our life. I love how peter wrote here that whatever it reveals, God wil personally and powerfully restore in order to make you stronger. Then He will set you firmly in place and continue to build you up. God isn’t finished with you yet. He’s still working on you, making you stronger through pressure testing as you grow.

Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 22, 2018 · 5:00 AM

Being Shepherded

Throwback Thursday is a new feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

Psalm 23 has to be the most memorized chapter in the Bible. Like me, you may have memorized it as a child. If you’ve seen any funeral in a movie or TV, you’ve definitely heard it being read. When something like that is ingrained in us, we tend to glaze over it when we hear it. We know we know it, so we don’t really pay attention to what it’s saying. If you stop and think about it, there are some powerful truths just in the first few verses.

In the first verse, we read, “THE Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack” (AMP). Think about that. The Lord watches over you personally like a shepherd watches sheep. He makes sure that you are fed, protected, and on the right path. You have everything you need in Him. There’s no need to panic today because your shepherd is watching over you making sure you have everything you need.

Verse two says, “He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters.” God knows we all need times of rest and refreshing. We are constantly on the go, looking for greener pastures. God says to us, “Follow me and I will give you rest.” You don’t have to go looking for them, you just have to be willing to be led by Him. You have to give up your rights and submit to the authority of your shepherd. When you do, you will find the greener pastures and rest you’ve been looking for.

Verse three confirms that by saying, “He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him–not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake.” Not only does God refresh you, He restores you. He gives back what has been taken from you. He also leads you into the paths of life that please Him. He does all of this not because you’ve done anything. He does it because He loves you and cares for you.

Even if you’ve been the sheep that has gone astray or fought against being shepherded, we know that God loves you enough to find you where you are, in the condition you’re in, to lovingly bring you to the fold. He doesn’t wait for lost sheep to find Him. He’s proactively looking for you because He knows your life will be better with His flock. He will leave 99 to find just one sheep. That’s the kind of shepherd we have. He gives us everything we need, He leads us to restful places, and He restores our lives. We just have to be willing to be a part of His flock and to submit to His shepherding.

Photo by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 29, 2017 · 5:25 AM

Restoration Project


If you’ve ever restored anything, you know the rewarding experience it is. There’s something about taking something that is outdated, worn out and unusable and restoring it to its former glory. I’ve done it with furniture and also with cars. Once that project is restored, not only does it serve a purpose again, often it us worth more than it was before it needed restoration. Yes, it does take some work, but in the end, it’s always worth it. 

I’m so glad that God is in the restoration business. What we do with cars and other objects, God does with lives. He takes people who are broken, worn out and unusable and brings them back to life. When He’s done, those lives are more valuable because if the work He’s done. They have experienced the rebuild process and have come back from places where they thought restoration was impossible. 

The Psalmist understood that there is no life or nation that is beyond God’s restorative power and ability. In Psalm 85:4, they wrote this prayer, “Now restore us again, O God of our salvation” (NLT). Israel had disobeyed God and had experienced the effects of that. They knew that even though they had moved away from their purpose and had become unusable, God could restore them. They cried out to God and He was faithful to do it.

You may think you’ve gone beyond God’s ability to restore your life, but I’m here to tell you that you’re not. God wants to restore you and rebuild you. He wants to bring value back to your life and to make you useful for His purposes. You simply need to pray like the Psalmist and allow God to do the work. If He can restore my life, He can restore yours. 

4 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

March 1, 2017 · 5:13 AM

The Green Urn


Windsor Castle, the winter home of the Queen of England, was partially destroyed by a fire in 1992. As I walked through the rooms that had been restored, I couldn’t help but marvel at what great work they did to make it better than before. In one such room, there was a green urn. It weighed over two tons and the firemen couldn’t move it. The urn had also filled with water making it even more heavy. They were upset they wouldn’t be able to save it, but had to move on to things they could.

What they didn’t expect was that the water in the urn would preserve it. The water turned to steam and heated the urn. The malachite that covered the urn simply peeled off and dropped to the floor. After the fire was put out, they found all of the pieces of malachite laying there. They picked them up, cleaned them, and the restoration crew was able to painstakingly put them back on the urn piece by piece. It was one of the longest restoration projects from the fire.

In Mark 9:49-50, Jesus said, “Everyone’s going through a refining fire sooner or later, but you’ll be well-preserved, protected from the eternal flames” (MSG). Each one of us are going to go through fires in this life. Jesus made that clear. It can destroy us or we can rebuild from it. He promised us that we would be like that urn if we have Him inside of us. The flames may scorch and mar our outsides, but what’s in us will keep us from being destroyed.

I’m living proof that you can be rebuilt after the fire. When I looked at the pieces of my life laying on the floor after the fire, I thought things were hopeless, but God saw it differently. He took those pieces and painstakingly put my life back together piece by piece. Because of the restoration He did in my life, I’m closer to Him now than ever. If you’re going through the fire now, remember it’s not the end, but the beginning of a beautiful restoration to make your faith stronger and more refined. 

1 Comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,