More of God’s Presence: Week 4 – Restoration
Welcome to Week 4 of the series More of God’s Presence. We are walking through Psalm 23 shedding light on the intricate details of God’s Presence. I hope you will join us on this journey and embrace God’s Presence like never before! If you missed the other posts in this series, you can find them here:
Week 1 – I Shall Not Want
Week 2 – He Makes Me
Week 3 – Still Waters
Week 4: RESTORATION
I yearned for calmness, rest, and repair as if it would never come. If I could fix the situations in my life, then I would be able to move beyond this rugged road I was walking. With every step, there was more brokenness, pain, baggage, and dirt that was being stirred up only to linger in the footsteps of my path.
There are times when the broken places of life seem like they will never be repaired. Some situations that we endure leave lasting imprints, scars, and memories that we would rather forget.
I wanted to be free! I wanted to feel renewed and to rest in the sweet assurance of peace, but the anxiety that filled my soul grew stronger and seemed to cause destruction in my mind and the deepest places of my heart.
When you go through a trial or a season of many trials, your heart longs for repair. I know some may cringe when I say, God is able, but it’s true. He is the only restoration for a weary soul.
You cannot restore something that isn’t broken, damaged, or in need of repair. If life was perfect there would be no need for restoration.
As I rest in the restoration process, I am learning more about what restoration truly requires and why some of us receive it and others do not.
Restoration Requires:
1. Knowledge of my need.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
If I avoid my need for God, I will never be able to receive restoration. When life takes you to a place where you have no where else to turn, you quickly realize you have a need greater than anything this world offers. The need to be restored, repaired, and loved. God is the only thing you need.
2. Submission to the Shepherd.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
If I want peace in my life, I must be willing to submit to God’s power. If I avoid the idea or the concrete fact that God is all-powerful and all-knowing, I am forfeiting the peace that I desperately desire.
He leads me beside still waters.
I must follow where God leads me. There is no peace without God. When life is completely overwhelming, I must admit that I need more than what I am capable of producing. I do not bring peace to myself. God produces peace in my life by His power alone. If I begin to follow my own way, I will be frustrated, tired and feel very alone. The power of God’s peace is essential for restoration.
4. Acceptance of the restoration process.
When I realize that my broken, hurting places of life are capable of being repaired, my mind can hardly fathom the reality of it. When I begin to accept my need for God, and I submit to Him and His peace, I begin to experience the amazing restoration that can only be found in God’s presence.
The key to restoration is in the “He” of this passage. He – the Shepherd – Jesus – He restores. He gives restoration to the most broken, the most shattered, the most angry, the most hurt. He is able to restore your soul, but you must embrace the process.
Do you recognize your need for God?
Are you ready to submit to the Shepherd?
Are you eager to embrace God’s peace?
Are you willing to accept His restoration?
No matter what you have faced in this life, God is able to repair the most scarred, the most broken. He restores my soul!
What about you?
If you are longing for restoration, today is the day. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
Love & Blessings,
Micah
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Micah! I just LOVE this sooo much! Every time I come by your blog I am blessed. Thank you for your beautiful words!
Blessings,
Sarah (www.sarahefrazer.com)
Thanks for coming by, Sarah! I hope you have a wonderful week!
I love how you’ve pulled out the four parts, Micah. Your words are gentle and leading…right toward God. Good post. #testimonyTuesday
Kristi, Thank you so much! Thanks for stopping by for #testimonyTuesday
This continues to be a great series, rich in word pictures and truths to hold onto tightly! Thanks, Micah! Blessings on your day!
You are so welcome! I pray it encourages many! I just love Psalm 23 so much!
So beautiful Micah!! I’m visiting from next door at #smallwonder, late this week in posting..I love this series you are doing with my favorite verse–Psalm 23…how rich it is to pray this Psalm and know God is our source of peace and stillness…we need to return to that gorgeous place besides still waters! Blessings to you in this special ministry you offer women!!
I’m so glad you dropped in. I’m behind this week too! Seems like a busy time of year for everyone. Psalm 23 is exactly what I need. I’ve been dwelling on it so much this year. It seems like God continues to call me back to it time after time.
Frequently I do not recognize my need for restoration and peace until I’ve reached the point of overwhelm. I know I need to be intentional about recognizing my need for God’s leading and being willing to submit on a daily (no, minute) basis; when I do that, He often helps me avoid that desperate point. I often wonder if I’m the only one who gets so caught up in the day to day that I forget how restoring He can be, even when we don’t realize we need that restoration? Beautiful and timely reminders, Micah, thank you!
I often get caught up in the day to day, Wendy. I often crawl back to the place I know I need to be. He restores my soul and I’m so thankful!
As someone living in a fixer-upper, I’m reminded with every project we take on that restoration often requires dismantling before the vision I have of something new can begin to take hold. I think this “things will get worse before they get better” hold so many of us back. Restoration requires trust.
Love this thought! Thank you so much for sharing that!!!