Restore - Part Eight
Restore
- bring back (a previous right, practice, custom, or situation); reinstate.
- give (something previously stolen, taken away, or lost) back to the original owner or recipient.
At the end of each year we are always bombarded with questions about what your next year will look like. Will you make a resolution? Will you try a new diet? What are your goals? What trips are you going to take? What are you going to give up? A new year is an opportunity for a new beginning. While these questions aren't bad in themselves, it leaves me feeling as if the last year me wasn't quite good enough. One practise I really enjoy and have implemented in the past is a focus word. What word or phrase describes the intention you would like to set for each new day going forward?
The word I have chosen for 2020 is Restore. This word was put on my heart after I was tapping through the Simplified Instagram stories. I have used Emily's planner throughout last year and really am blessed by her company and their vision. There were a number of words but the word Restore stuck with me. The word was again pressed on my heart in my dreams one night last week.
After a year of turmoil, transitions, hurt, failures, buckets of tears and many, many lessons, this word gives me hope. The verse that was given with the word was from Isaiah 43:19, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." The Message version summarizes it well, "Forget about what's happened, don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Do you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." A way in the wilderness. Rivers in the desert. I cannot do those things alone. God creates transformation through brokenness.
Restoration requires work and in some contexts it brings another being into the process. The process of restoring is active, it is alive and it is ever changing. I know that I will never fully be restored until I reach my final destination - eternal life with Jesus. But God is continually working in me to bring me through those dark wilderness paths. He is restoring unto me confidence, love and truths.
This coming year I am feeling a pull to restore those things to myself which are truths that God has given me. I am created to learn. I am gifted in telling stories- visually and written. I have a story. I am loved. I matter. I am important. I am capable. These are truths that have been whispered over my heart. They have been audibly given to me by those around me. They have been revealed to me in God's words. They are the roads in the desert, rivers in the badlands.
In January, I will be starting a journey towards a degree. I have been accepted to Tyndale University and Seminary in the Writing and Communications program. I am super excited but also crazy nervous! I'm starting out small by taking one course this semester and assessing each semester after that with what I can manage with all the other demands of life! I have always wanted to go to school for as long as I can remember. Two of my best friends in high school went on to University and I always thought I'd go with them. Life has a way of changing directions and putting us on different paths. I ended up where I needed to be these past number of years but the pull never left my heart.
I don't believe in perfect timing. I fully believe in cultivating time. If this past year has taught me anything, its that nothing is certain. Life really is short and we have no control over it. We do have control over how we choose to grasp our every day. I'm learning that rather than clinging to control, I can choose intentionality. Intentions can look like leaning into Jesus and His words, spending time with loved ones, creating opportunities for growth and letting go of everything else that really doesn't matter.
Life will be a bit different in a week or two but my focuses for this coming year will continue to be on my family, on healing, but also I've been reminded that I am passionate about learning, about educating others and and sharing my story. I don't know what this year will have in store for me, but I do know that God continues to show up each and every day and He is teaching me over and over what it means to trust in Him and His words.
"And we know (with great confidence) that God (who is deeply concerned about us) causes all things to work together (as a plan) for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. For those whom He foreknew (and loved and chose beforehand), He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (and ultimately share in His complete sanctification), so that He would be the firstborn (the most beloved and honoured) among many believers. And those who He predestined, He also called, He also justified (declared free of the guilt of sin); and those whom He justified, He also glorified (raising them to a heavenly dignity)....For I am convinced (and continue to be convinced- beyond any doubt) that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor thing present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the (unlimited) love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28-30 & 38-39 AMP version.
- bring back (a previous right, practice, custom, or situation); reinstate.
- give (something previously stolen, taken away, or lost) back to the original owner or recipient.
At the end of each year we are always bombarded with questions about what your next year will look like. Will you make a resolution? Will you try a new diet? What are your goals? What trips are you going to take? What are you going to give up? A new year is an opportunity for a new beginning. While these questions aren't bad in themselves, it leaves me feeling as if the last year me wasn't quite good enough. One practise I really enjoy and have implemented in the past is a focus word. What word or phrase describes the intention you would like to set for each new day going forward?
The word I have chosen for 2020 is Restore. This word was put on my heart after I was tapping through the Simplified Instagram stories. I have used Emily's planner throughout last year and really am blessed by her company and their vision. There were a number of words but the word Restore stuck with me. The word was again pressed on my heart in my dreams one night last week.
After a year of turmoil, transitions, hurt, failures, buckets of tears and many, many lessons, this word gives me hope. The verse that was given with the word was from Isaiah 43:19, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." The Message version summarizes it well, "Forget about what's happened, don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Do you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." A way in the wilderness. Rivers in the desert. I cannot do those things alone. God creates transformation through brokenness.
Restoration requires work and in some contexts it brings another being into the process. The process of restoring is active, it is alive and it is ever changing. I know that I will never fully be restored until I reach my final destination - eternal life with Jesus. But God is continually working in me to bring me through those dark wilderness paths. He is restoring unto me confidence, love and truths.
This coming year I am feeling a pull to restore those things to myself which are truths that God has given me. I am created to learn. I am gifted in telling stories- visually and written. I have a story. I am loved. I matter. I am important. I am capable. These are truths that have been whispered over my heart. They have been audibly given to me by those around me. They have been revealed to me in God's words. They are the roads in the desert, rivers in the badlands.
In January, I will be starting a journey towards a degree. I have been accepted to Tyndale University and Seminary in the Writing and Communications program. I am super excited but also crazy nervous! I'm starting out small by taking one course this semester and assessing each semester after that with what I can manage with all the other demands of life! I have always wanted to go to school for as long as I can remember. Two of my best friends in high school went on to University and I always thought I'd go with them. Life has a way of changing directions and putting us on different paths. I ended up where I needed to be these past number of years but the pull never left my heart.
I don't believe in perfect timing. I fully believe in cultivating time. If this past year has taught me anything, its that nothing is certain. Life really is short and we have no control over it. We do have control over how we choose to grasp our every day. I'm learning that rather than clinging to control, I can choose intentionality. Intentions can look like leaning into Jesus and His words, spending time with loved ones, creating opportunities for growth and letting go of everything else that really doesn't matter.
Life will be a bit different in a week or two but my focuses for this coming year will continue to be on my family, on healing, but also I've been reminded that I am passionate about learning, about educating others and and sharing my story. I don't know what this year will have in store for me, but I do know that God continues to show up each and every day and He is teaching me over and over what it means to trust in Him and His words.
"And we know (with great confidence) that God (who is deeply concerned about us) causes all things to work together (as a plan) for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. For those whom He foreknew (and loved and chose beforehand), He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (and ultimately share in His complete sanctification), so that He would be the firstborn (the most beloved and honoured) among many believers. And those who He predestined, He also called, He also justified (declared free of the guilt of sin); and those whom He justified, He also glorified (raising them to a heavenly dignity)....For I am convinced (and continue to be convinced- beyond any doubt) that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor thing present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the (unlimited) love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28-30 & 38-39 AMP version.
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