• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • About
    • About Us
  • Encourage
    • Rule of Life
    • Lectio Divina
    • Personal Year-end Examen
  • Prepare
    • Leadership Training
    • LSM Facilitator Resources
  • Connect
    • Tuesday Together
    • weekend together
  • Formation Zoé
Lifesprings International Ministries

Lifesprings International Ministries

Encouraging, preparing, and connecting women to impact their communities with the love of God.

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Give
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Restore

January 15, 2019 by Ezers Leave a Comment

Listen:

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10: 

Reflect:

The word RESTORE Peter used here is actually the Greek word for fixing a broken bone. When Peter’s confident declaration that God Himself will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast got me wondering what needs restoring in me?  What is broken that God is longing to restore, set straight, heal?  

Let’s carry Peter’s analogy a bit further. When dealing with a broken bone, there are two basic things you need to do: 

1.  The first thing you need to do is to “set” it, making sure the limb is not crooked, and point it in the right direction. When I was 10 I broke my wrist ice skating. My wrist throbbed with pain until the doctor pulled on it. The pain soared into an orbit all its own! My mom said she’d never seen a mouth open so wide with no sound (the original “silent scream”!)  There’s no easier way – it’s got to be physically pulled until the broken bone is totally lined up – the hurt must happen for the bone to heal right. 

2.  The second thing you need to do is to “cast” it. A cast, or plaster encasing, holds the broken bone in place so that it can knit back together.  The cast protects the bone from outside forces and further injury.  However, if the cast is too tight, the pressure will affect the blood supply, doing more damage than good, and the bone won’t heal properly.  Too much pressure from the outside is people who think they’re helping; but by encouraging you, “to just get on with your life, this is in the past, move on”, they’re actually causing further injury by pressuring you into doing things at their pace rather than letting God take you at His pace. 

Sometimes you need to be in a cast for a season.  This doesn’t mean that you live the rest of your life cocooned from reality, but you need distance and protection from outside forces, so that the Holy Spirit can work effectively in your healing process and restoration.

It’s going to hurt to be “reset” so that my brokenness can be knit back into wholeness. I’m going to be in a cast for a while – not isolated, but with a good blood supply of God’s grace. I’m going to need time, but that’s okay, because the end result is what we all long for: to be a strong, firm and steadfast follower of Christ.

Prayer of Response:

“Thank You Lord for reminding us of Your promise ‘to restore, make strong, firm and steadfast’.  For so many of us today who are wrestling in our suffering, it brings great peace to know that we need only surrender our anxieties to You, and trust You fully to bring restoration in Your perfect timing and according to You perfect will. Amen!”                     

—Submitted by Audrey Jose

Category iconUncategorized

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Give via Check in the U.S.

 

Make check out to:
 Faith and Learning International

IMPORTANT, please write:
LIFESPRINGS GENERAL FUND in the MEMO line

Mail to:
Faith and Learning International
PO Box 480
Wheaton, IL 60187-0480

To give by bank transfer in Euros:

 

IBAN: FR76 1009 6180 4100 0576 2590 144
Account: 00057625901
Bank: CIC FERNEY VOLTAIRE 10096
BIC: CMCIFRPP

Association name: Lifesprings France
Bank: CIC FERNEY VOLTAIRE
Address: 1 Avenue Voltaire
01210 Ferney Voltaire, FRANCE

Phone: +33 8 20 30 05 83