Restoration

Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face again, but now God has let me see your children, too!”  – Genesis 48:11

I’ve always loved the story of Joseph.  He is one of my favorites.

Often, I have put myself in his sandals wondering if my behavior would be similar to his given the same circumstance.

Let’s be clear:  I am quite positive it would not be.

Today, I put myself in Jacob’s sandals.  Today, I imagined myself in the sandals of a man who lost someone he loved more than anything.

It isn’t hard to imagine what that is like.  Nearly everyone has experienced that particular heartbreak whether it is losing someone you love through death, divorce, or disagreement.   If you haven’t experienced it..well…you just haven’t lived long enough… because it will come.

It is inevitable.

But look what God does!  Read Jacob’s words:

I never thought I would see your face again, but now God has let me see your children, too!

I wept when I read those word.

Wept.

I’m not talking about a glistening tear rolling softly down my cheek.  I’m talking about body shaking, face-contorted, ugly-girl weeping.

Why?

Because Jacob thought his son was dead.

Dead.

Not-coming-back-ever-dead.

Yet God restored abundantly more than Jacob could think or imagine.

And I think He still does.

It might take years of waiting…
years of growing…
years of mourning…
years of praying…
and it might not look exactly the way we expect (or want)…

but we have a God that restores!

He fills in the holes others leave behind, and He does it in the most surprising ways and usually when we least expect it.  Just ask Job.

Restoration & healing are what He does best.
It’s His thing.
He makes all things new!

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. – Rev. 21:1

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” – Rev. 21:5

If He will do that for the earth, don’t you think He can do that for you?