to those waiting to be restored... hold tight...
March snuck up on me, but I'm glad it's here. I am always more than ready for spring. Ready for sunshine, for a new season. Spring is the time that things always turn around. The time that things come back to life. And with the increase in temperature and sunshine, I always feel something awakening inside of me. I don't know what it is about the season. Maybe it's that my heart is yearning for life. That after a dark and cold season, I need something new to revive me. But it seems like the moment March gets here, I begin feeling different.
I drove home on my lunch break and I thought about all of the things I need to get done before next week. Aaron and I have the privilege to go on Mission Trip with the University students, thus requiring us to be gone for a week. I thought back to my college experience as Mission Trip was always something I looked forward to. I realized how long it has been since I went on my first mission trip as a college student, and I could hardly believe how quickly the time has passed. I remember graduating from college and mourning the loss of spring break. I was a "working woman" and with 2 measly weeks of vacation, I had to choose my days off wisely. I remember thinking, "Oh to be able to have fun Spring Breaks like that again...". I wasn't sure if it would happen.
I know I always talk about God's restoration in my life, but I am continuously blown away at how He continues to restore. Dictionary.com defines restoration as: "the return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition. Restitution of something taken away or lost." And I feel like getting to go on this trip as an "alum" is just one of the many million ways God is and has been restoring my life. A constant process of work, and He is continuing to faithfully put every little piece back in place.
I remember when I had to step out of the University Ministry. I no longer fit in. I cried about it... a lot. My heart was so heavy and worn as I ventured into a new stage of life that required a new place in church. I longed, with every fiber of my being, to be back there. To be a part of that place that had left a mark on my life. That place that God had used to mold me and carry me though some of life's biggest changes. But I stepped out in faith, and God provided. You know the story, you know what He did. But Aaron and I began to fill a stirring. The Lord was doing something in our hearts, and we both realized that we were being drawn to the University Ministry.
I never imagined I would be back there. To be back to place that I longed to be, the place where my heart desired to stay. But the Lord had to take me down a different path to return me there, to restore what was lost. And just when I come to the point that I think the Lord is done with that healing, that piece picking and placing part of my life, I see that it's still a work in progress. A redemptive journey.
We're like Israel. At least, I am. Brittnye Israel. Because they wandered and they got lost. They went into exile. They were captives. And yet God promised that He would always bring them back. That they would be restored. That He would find a way to return them the place where He intended for them to be.
I drove home on my lunch break and I thought about all of the things I need to get done before next week. Aaron and I have the privilege to go on Mission Trip with the University students, thus requiring us to be gone for a week. I thought back to my college experience as Mission Trip was always something I looked forward to. I realized how long it has been since I went on my first mission trip as a college student, and I could hardly believe how quickly the time has passed. I remember graduating from college and mourning the loss of spring break. I was a "working woman" and with 2 measly weeks of vacation, I had to choose my days off wisely. I remember thinking, "Oh to be able to have fun Spring Breaks like that again...". I wasn't sure if it would happen.
I know I always talk about God's restoration in my life, but I am continuously blown away at how He continues to restore. Dictionary.com defines restoration as: "the return of something to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition. Restitution of something taken away or lost." And I feel like getting to go on this trip as an "alum" is just one of the many million ways God is and has been restoring my life. A constant process of work, and He is continuing to faithfully put every little piece back in place.
I remember when I had to step out of the University Ministry. I no longer fit in. I cried about it... a lot. My heart was so heavy and worn as I ventured into a new stage of life that required a new place in church. I longed, with every fiber of my being, to be back there. To be a part of that place that had left a mark on my life. That place that God had used to mold me and carry me though some of life's biggest changes. But I stepped out in faith, and God provided. You know the story, you know what He did. But Aaron and I began to fill a stirring. The Lord was doing something in our hearts, and we both realized that we were being drawn to the University Ministry.
I never imagined I would be back there. To be back to place that I longed to be, the place where my heart desired to stay. But the Lord had to take me down a different path to return me there, to restore what was lost. And just when I come to the point that I think the Lord is done with that healing, that piece picking and placing part of my life, I see that it's still a work in progress. A redemptive journey.
We're like Israel. At least, I am. Brittnye Israel. Because they wandered and they got lost. They went into exile. They were captives. And yet God promised that He would always bring them back. That they would be restored. That He would find a way to return them the place where He intended for them to be.
He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.
-Isaiah 11:12
And so if you feel like you're in exile, being carried away into captivity, hold tight. God restores. He is always in the work of bringing His people back into His presence. A continuous journey, a constant work, but a trek worth taking. Because God has a plan for you. A place where He intends for you to be. And the beauty of following the Lord, even when you mess up and fail and look the other way, is that He finds a way to get you back on the path. A way to turn you back around and get you headed in the right direction. He is faithful. Constantly faithful. And with each piece, He makes complete what has come undone. Each step bringing you closer to Him. Closer to a joy of which nothing compares.
"Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old..." - Lamentations 5:21
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