Restoration and Awakening

“Restoration and Awakening”

That’s where he restores and revives my life. He opens before me pathways to God’s pleasure and leads me along in his footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honor to his name.

Psalm 23:3 TPT

I also love this version:

True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.

Psalm 23:1 MSG

I cant believe 2018 is almost here! Every year as I begin a new year, I try to keep my ears & eyes open to what word or words God might have for me. As I go into 2018 it seems like God has really been impressing on me 2 words, restoration and awakening.

I was wondering how these 2 fit together for me. That was when I came across this quote from Passion Translation:

“PROPHETIC WORD: I will restore your mind and your heart as you come before Me. Crooked things will be made straight within you. For everything I do for you I do inside your heart, healing your spirit and soothing your soul. Come and find My heart and I will restore your heart.

Greater passions will rise within you to feast upon My Word and drink of My Spirit. The hunger I give you will bring you deeper into My grace and My love for you. -Brian Simmons”

Thats how it fits for me. But I also felt God impress upon me this. When God restores, when He brings us back, when He reinstates us, when He abolishes all that is wrong, that is when we can finally awaken. He can revive us and we can rise up to be who He created us to be.

We can not be awakened unless we are restored first. I think of it as an antique piece of furniture. Antique furniture has so much character and they were so beautifully and ornately made. But lots of times because of how old they are they can look worn, they can be missing pieces and/or they can have scratches and dents. They need to be restored to their original beauty.

Any of you that have restored furniture or watched furniture being restored know it’s not an easy job. It takes time and dedication. Their are steps to follow. You have to strip off the old finish, sand down the imperfections and then once that’s all done, you can begin to stain or paint it. But when you stand back and look at your completed masterpiece it is worth the process. It has finally once again become a beautiful antique piece of furniture. It has been awakened & revived to its full potential and beauty.

The owner of the antique table could have left it alone. He didn’t have to take the time to restore it. The item was still serving its purpose. It was still furniture, just a little beat up, a little scarred up! But it hadn’t been living up to its full purpose. It had so much more potential than to just serve its purpose. It had the potential to be beautiful, to shine, to be flawless.

We can be held back so much by our own scars and flaws. And don’t we all have them! Don’t just serve your purpose. Let God revive you & awaken you as we go into 2018.

I want to end this a different way. Ladies, I want to challenge you. I challenge you to take quiet time with God in the next couple days. What words might He have for you in 2018. I would love to hear what your words might be!