the valley of dry bones
Like many of you Abiding Together fangirls and maybe some fanboys as well, I am working my way through their beautifully created RESTORE THE BEAUTY podcasts and journal.
OH. MY. WORD.
Well, not MY word. HIS WORD.
Focusing on just one verse in Scripture over the past three days is doing all sorts of wrecking and rebuilding already.
After only three days of reading, re-reading, meditating, responding and resting in just this verse, I am FINALLY understanding what true restoration is, and why we long for it so painfully.
And we all have something that needs to be restored.
From a marriage to a child to our Church. You have something, don't you?
I believe you do.
There is something we are each desperate to change...knock down and start from scratch, rebuild, hit rewind and start again.
But restoration is not about rewinding. We have no use in hoping for a better past. It is done. But we are called to build a better now, by shining a light on the mess, facing the disaster, and digging our own hands into the heap and wreck and allowing God to guide them...to find that beauty that has been covered, to pull out the good that is always there.
If we allow Him, He will, you know.
If we surrender to Him, this will happen.
We are not the ones to put flesh back on bones or to put breath back in...only God can do that. But we do have our part. We do need to participate and cooperate. We do need to claim truth and speak it out loud; to do all of this over those dry bones we fear might be long dead, but at our core, know there is still life. Only God knows....only God is Lord....but does He not call us to be a part of this restoration mission?
Today I will prophesy over my own something...that thing that needs restoration...and I will call on the God...the Lord...the only One who can bring the sort of restoration I need. Because restoration? Real restoring? This is not about a make over, or a filter that can be slapped on the old and made to appear new. This is about the promise. God's promise. This about the realization that He is Lord and can do all things, that He is all about taking the old and making it new, embracing the sick and the rotting and bringing it back to its original divine purpose.
Is this not what we ache for, sweet friends?
Is not what we grieve the loss of the divine purpose?
O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD, and come alive.
