Life Between Loss and Restoration

I don't know about anyone else, but I have been walking through a season of loss for what seems like forever. Little by little, sometimes more than a little, I've lost. While I don't mean to dwell on that fact, I do need to address it. It's something that I'd love to just push deep down and never talk about, but I thank God that he has given me this gift of writing. This blog has given me such an outlet to really work through life's issues and encourage others in the process.

Maybe you're in your own season of what seems like everything but pleasant. We should never stay stuck in the feelings that loss can bring. Especially during the wait for restoration. It makes the wait so unbearable. We may not understand why things happen to us and we may never understand how or when things will get better but what I do know is that God knows and he will restore unto us all that we've "lost".

Just being honest, this has been one of the most difficult times in my life, that all started with the biggest step of pure faith I've ever taken. I left behind everything and everyone I've ever known to follow where I knew God was leading me. I didn't know what, where, why or how. All I knew was that God said GO. So, I went. Being new in my walk with God, I suppose I thought everything was just going to be a walk in the park because I obeyed God. I can't say that God hasn't provided, he has. He has taken care of me and came through for me in ways that only he can.

The thing that I've wrestled most with is learning to accept that while God gives, he most definitely also takes away. Does that fact change his goodness? Certainly not. Does it change us? It certainly does.

When he strips us down of everything we've become comfortable with, every piece of stability that we thought we could count on, every THING that we thought we KNEW, where does that leave us? Can we learn a lesson from both the good AND bad? Can we trust him in the giving AND the taking away? Does he just take away and never restore? Of course not. It's that "in between" time that is so, so tough. For me at least. We wrestle with it. The sting of the wait is so real, but the restoration power of God is even more so.

In our flesh, it hurts. It hurts to be in a place where WE think we could be doing so much better for ourselves. Is that what God wants for us though? No matter how it hurts and no matter how many times we have to shut down our flesh, God's perfect will is ABOVE ALL. It's above our in between times. It's above every feeling of inadequacy the enemy tries to torment us with. It's above every feeling of sorrow and sadness that we can easily slip into if our focus isn't in the right place. It's above OUR thoughts, our ways and our emotions. It's perfect and it's pure. Above all, we must follow wherever the Lord leads. He never promised our walk would be free from pain. He never promised our walk wouldn't include some rough patches. He never promised our walk would be easy. No path that leads to a great destination EVER is.

So, maybe you're feeling some of what I've been feeling lately. Don't focus on the wait, focus on HIM. Seek him first. Seek his perfect will above ALL else and NO MATTER WHAT. Even in your pain, even in the loss, even in the hardest time of your life, he is SO very good and his love for us is SO great. He has ALL good things in store for those that love him AND for those who ENDURE. Let's not endure from the perspective of loss, but from the perspective that God is a God of RESTORATION. For every weakness, strength will take its place. God may break you, but when God breaks things, it just means he intends to make something stronger and more beautiful than before.

You may not see it now, but he's preparing you for all he has in store. We may not know when, we may not know how, but we KNOW that he is a promise keeper and he WILL restore ALL.

I hope this post has helped someone as it has helped me to write it.

Blessings to you all...