*joel 2:25*
and i will restore for you the years the locust has eaten...
i love this verse. it reminds me that our father in heaven has this beautiful way of redeeming the worst of our ugliness and rebellion for his glory. i am so thankful to my sweet jesus for this job i have, because i can witness this restoration of years in progress in some of my dear friends who have been to hell and back again. when the school requests these speakers to come and speak to their students, they expect to hear about how drugs ruin lives and perhaps a few horror stories to shock the students into staying away from drugs, but with me divinely put in charge of arranging these speakers, i bring in those who can tell of how they were pulled back from those ruins by nail-pierced hands and given full, restored lives. life traded in for death. one of those miracles that only God can pull off. these ruins are not merely filled with substance abuse or addiction. that is only the surface sludge. underneath that layer are often seeds of loneliness, rejection, unworthiness, confusion, pain... all weapons of the enemy. these things lie to us and tell us that there is no one who cares, no one who will ever truly love and accept us. they deceive us into thinking that worldly things like money, sex, self-indulgence, drugs are the only suitable painkillers. this is the hopelessness that cripples this generation.
but.... jesus came to save us from all of this. read psalm 103. it is so beautiful. this is the jesus who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who BEAUTIFIES, DIGNIFIES, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; who satisfies your mouth with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's! (v.3-5)
i consider myself so fortunate to have this glimpse into some of the lives that God has redeemd and restored. i am so thankful that i can somehow play a small part in making these stories heard. and i thank you, m, d, c, k, j & d, for not being afraid to bare your weaknesses so that christ's strength can be made known.
and you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. AND MY PEOPLE SHALL NEVER BE PUT TO SHAME.
and i will restore for you the years the locust has eaten...
i love this verse. it reminds me that our father in heaven has this beautiful way of redeeming the worst of our ugliness and rebellion for his glory. i am so thankful to my sweet jesus for this job i have, because i can witness this restoration of years in progress in some of my dear friends who have been to hell and back again. when the school requests these speakers to come and speak to their students, they expect to hear about how drugs ruin lives and perhaps a few horror stories to shock the students into staying away from drugs, but with me divinely put in charge of arranging these speakers, i bring in those who can tell of how they were pulled back from those ruins by nail-pierced hands and given full, restored lives. life traded in for death. one of those miracles that only God can pull off. these ruins are not merely filled with substance abuse or addiction. that is only the surface sludge. underneath that layer are often seeds of loneliness, rejection, unworthiness, confusion, pain... all weapons of the enemy. these things lie to us and tell us that there is no one who cares, no one who will ever truly love and accept us. they deceive us into thinking that worldly things like money, sex, self-indulgence, drugs are the only suitable painkillers. this is the hopelessness that cripples this generation.
but.... jesus came to save us from all of this. read psalm 103. it is so beautiful. this is the jesus who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who BEAUTIFIES, DIGNIFIES, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy; who satisfies your mouth with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's! (v.3-5)
i consider myself so fortunate to have this glimpse into some of the lives that God has redeemd and restored. i am so thankful that i can somehow play a small part in making these stories heard. and i thank you, m, d, c, k, j & d, for not being afraid to bare your weaknesses so that christ's strength can be made known.
and you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. AND MY PEOPLE SHALL NEVER BE PUT TO SHAME.
posted by jana* at 1:16 AM
