Restoration

Restored - Cheri Keaggy

I've been living against the grindstone
Where nothing is sure but the Lord
For He gives me the treasures of darkness
Where faith's greatest riches are stored
And in ways that are quite unexpected
I have learned a most humbling truth
That a faith that has never been tested
Is just growth that is long overdue.

So I'm practicing joy, choosing it daily,
putting it on like a favorite cologne.
And when life breaks me down it won't even faze me.
Some call me crazy but I'm just in love with the Lord.
For He has been faithful, and not just to fill me
To take me to heights I have never explored.
If I'm never broken, how can I be restored?

So I'm trading these comfortable choices,
for living that's much more alive.
And the more that my spirit rejoices,
the more that I grow and I thrive.
If surrender is seen as a weakness,
then the lowliest beggar I'll be.
I'll embrace every struggle with meekness
cause I know that it is making me free.

Restore me, Lord and make me new again.
I want nothing more than to soar.

On my drive to North Carolina I came across this song. God has really been using it to minister to my soul and teach me. Ever since I arrived I've had this song running through my head. There are many truths found in this song that are striking me afresh as I've meditated on these lyrics.

There are great treasures to be found in the journeys of darkness in our lives if we will allow God to mold us and teach us through the process. I pray that my faith has been strengthened and will continue to grow through the trials in my life. I wish there were an easier way - that I could become the mature, godly woman desires me to be without struggles and sorrows, but it seems this is the way that God best shapes us into the person He knows we are capable of being.

In the midst of life's trials it is very easy to become overwhelmed and loose our joy if we are focused solely on our circumstances. But when I choose to focus on God's love, grace and mercy toward me I can choose joy - knowing that the trials we face are temporary in light of eternity and are meant to strengthen our faith.

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
1 Peter 1:6-7

I am so thankful to know that the trials of life will only be with us for a little while. But our faith that is proved and strengthened through these trials will last forever - even longer than gold - all to the glory of God.

As I've gotten to know the other families here at the center I've been struck by how we are all seeking physical restoration for our children through hyperbaric and various others interventions. We are earnestly seeking this restoration. I too am pleading with the Lord for a restoration of Seth's physical health - mind and body. But God has also been speaking to my soul about the importance of continuing to seek soul restoration. I want to focus each day on growing in my spiritual health - my soul is eternal - praise the Lord we will all have new physical or heavenly bodies in heaven. I am so thankful that as a believer in Jesus Christ I can rest assured that I will see Seth's physical body restored in heaven even if I don't see the complete restoration here on earth.

So I continue to pray for restoration - for all the physical ailments of my son and the other children here at the center while I also focus on restoring my soul daily by spending time with the Lord in prayer and Bible study.