Happy week 18 of 2023!!
A thought about restoration brought me to this passage below. Can’t God do it? Can He restore all the years of distraction, destruction and dissension among us, and even within us? This got me processing, and below is what I wrote after. Let’s begin.
Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
-Joel 2:23-29 NIV
God can restore even while we walk through new and sometimes scary doors. As I have been processing this journey, I’m feeling a thankfulness erupting inside of me. The opportunity to get behind these doors I never planned for and explore has mostly felt like a gift. To know that the people in the medical industry know how to care for me is a blessing. I have to say, living in a small town has been a gift to me too. At every appointment, the nurses are telling me, “I lived in Franklin when your husband passed and I know your story.” What? I never thought this would be what I would be witnessing in the midst of my misery.
You see, God has gone before you and me, as I mentioned last week. I also have something to give away. It’s called the Joy of the Lord. I’m not saying I have been living in the fullness of that joy at every appointment, but I have felt the Spirit rising inside of me in the midst of those appointment victories.
God is giving me restored strength in the midst of these uncertain and scary doors. He is showing me mercy and tender loving care. Some appointments have been tough, but I’m getting second opinions in those areas because I care. It’s a “you and me, God” kind of season, and really, a lifestyle adjustment. An independent woman who has learned she can do so much more than she ever thought. To explore has been humbling. Yet, the friends/menders continue to show up just when I’m feeling low and ready to say, “that’s that.” God is the one who gives the increase. He is the one who has increased my capacity to read, write, record and recite! HE has done it, y’all! He has shown me myself in the midst of my present suffering.
“Daughter, it was always in there.”
“Really, You saw this for me? But Father, I didn’t see this for myself.”
“That’s why it’s so important you constantly come to Me for support. I am your firm foundation. I am your shield and buckler. I am your strong tower. I am the GREAT I AM and I am in love with you.❤️”
My menders, I hope you can feel His love washing over you as you read this here today. For, He sure is washing me with His love as I write what I didn’t know my heart had to say. It still amazes me when I take time to sit in His presence. The truths I find and the clarity that comes to mind wows me still. He is the restorer. He is the renewer, y’all. He is renewing my focus so the locust can’t steal anything else. We have to be so intentional/mindful/aware of what the desires of our hearts truly are, so when life’s challenges happen, we know what we are not willing to give up in the midst of all this yuck.
Boundaries are what some call it. We have to use these boundaries against the dark forces trying to steal our peace, joy and excitement for life. Why? Because we were made to prophesy, to have visions and dreams, and finally, to live fully alive and have our being.
It’s His presence that shows the evidence of His glory moving through us despite of us. We are broken people choosing to continue to seek the Healer even when the healing doesn’t come the way we might have hoped.
Will you choose in?
I know I have and will continue to show just what can happen when someone takes Him at His word. Mystery happens and I’m loving every bit of it.
This song is called Prophecy the Promise.
I hope you will give sometime in your busy day to allow this song to sing over you as it has me.
There is just something about faith filled people declaring over your heart and mind that just gives me a little extra pep in my step to lift my hands high even when I feel like I need to cry.
Here is a link to the whole album. May every song inspire you to keep on keeping on. It’s beautiful and so are you, and to me that’s a match made in heaven. Amen and Amen.
Until next time,
Keep gliding
Abiding
& Smiling
What a great irony (which the human brain cannot resolve) that in the grievous depths of my suffering, I can yet know "the Joy of the Lord." And it is overwhelming.