Welcome my friends to season 3 of the Determined to Dance podcast. My prayer is that you’ll be encouraged to persevere daily in our chaotic world. Today’s episode, God Restores, focuses on the ways God reestablishes our lives.

Show notes: God Restores

The word restore has many possible definitions in Webster's 1828 dictionary. Among my favorites are:

To bring back or recover from lapse, degeneracy, or ruin to its former state.
To heal; to cure.
To repair; to rebuild.
To revive; to resuscitate; to bring back to life.

I need restoration. The longer I live, the more I long to see God recover areas of my life. Ones I felt could never be brought back to their former state. When I was a child, around six years old, my father became very ill with a spinal disease that left him in a wheelchair for life. We moved to Alabama to be close to family and the distress changed me in many ways.

Before we moved, Mom said I was a more outgoing, talkative child. In our new home and lifestyle, I became shy, timid. I poured myself into study, discipline, and rules. I gave my life to God a few years after the move but never seemed to be able to recover the way I danced through life before the trauma.

God, however, had a plan. He began to heal, cure, repair, rebuild, revive, resuscitate, and bring me back to life. He understood my need to hide at first and step by step, inch by inch, rescued me. He used many ways, some you might relate to:

My relationship with God. Through the Word and prayer, He beckoned me to His presence where healing is found.
Family and friends. Countless people spoke into my life in positive, affirming ways.
Church, sermons, conferences. Sometimes, I couldn’t focus on much but one word of a sermon would sustain me in difficult times.
Music, worship, and praise all played a part in my restoration.
Repentance, confession, and receiving forgiveness. I needed to repent of my sin and shortcomings, then receive the forgiveness offered.

And that brings us to Jeff Walling’s quote of the day: “Our weaknesses and mistakes are what sent Christ to Golgotha. If we do not freely bring them to the Father and allow him to renew our soul and restore our balance, we rob the cross of its power.

If your knees are bruised from stumbling and your shins are bloody from an unexpected tumble, don’t let embarrassment or fear cause you to slink off into the bushes to mope. Reach out for the tender hand of one who knows and cares. He is aware of your every misstep and loves you anyway.”

What a beautiful truth. And it’s not just for me. Everyone can call on the name of the Lord for help. Psalm 145:17-19 says: “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.”

Did you notice how the verse kept saying all? That leaves no one out. Now the path to restoration is not easy. I’ve tried to restore furniture before and usually made a mess of it. A person needs specific tools and skills to do the job right. It takes patience and a steady hand to strip a table, bench, or chair down to its foundation, then rebuild it, adding stain, paint, and repair.

God steps into our lives when we ask and begins the same process. Sometimes, the pain seems too great and we don’t think we’ll ever be who God says we can be. But He never gives up, never gives in, never turns around.

For He is God, the creator. And whatever He chooses for me, chooses for you, is good. So, step up and enter the restoring process. You’ll never regret taking His outstretched hand.

Let’s pray: Father God, we come to You today in need of rescue, and restoration, to be brought back to life. We want Your life. We repent of our sins and ask You to cleanse us. Recover what we’ve lost. Restore us to the person you meant for us to be.