Restoration

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and trying to sum up all that has happened over the past year. One thing that AIM is good at is making sure the debrief process happens, trying to prepare us for the transition back to America and relating our stories to our friends and family. Every journal I look in from the past year has something to do with restoration or redemption and the power of the cross. I have been back in America for less than three weeks and I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about all that has happened or how to communicate it effectively.

 

Today I went to church. (Always a good thing to do.) The Lord has been revealing to me a lot lately how important the body of Christ is and going to church is key! So, I struggled through the first part of church, but asking for God to take away everything that was of me so that I could focus on the message being spoken. The message was about “Victory Over Sin.” One of the points that caught my attention was from 1 Peter 4:1. Jesus died for us. His death was a substitution for our death. Nothing we do will save us from sin and death and I can’t conquer sin. Jesus is the overcomer who OVER COMES in me. Then we headed over to Romans 6:4.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

 

We don’t live like the Spirit is in us. We live like defeated wimps. We are victorious in Christ! Live like it. We don’t live in the power that gives us victory over sin.

 

Then it was off to college Sunday school time. We read through the first few verses of Ephesians 1. We are chosen and adopted through Jesus Christ. When an adoption takes place our old name isn’t who we are any more. We are a new creation. We have been given a new name and a new identity. So why do we keep going back? Why do we relive our past? We are REDEEMED by the blood of the lamb!

Then tonight I traveled to a town down the interstate a bit and was blown away. Not because of the feel good feeling from church, but because the Lord knew what I needed and met me where I was. Before my team left for South Africa in September, we gathered together as a team and spoke out the lies that we had been believing about the time we were about to enter into. Then we stood and held each other as we listened to a song by David Brymer called “Restoration.” Interesting enough, this ended up being a big theme for me this year. Back to tonight. I found myself in this building with many people my age. The worship leader was playing his guitar and singing then he began singing this song.

The part that stopped me was “You’ve taken my pain and You call me by a new name.” What a perfect ending to a beautiful day. I have been adopted. Everthing that defined who I was is no longer. I have been redeemed. I have been restored. There is no more shame because the Lord has taken it upon Himself. 

 

 Restoration is “The art of repairing or renovating.”

 

After the message was spoken and they closed with a song, they allowed a time to sit and spend time with the Lord, talking with people if needed or just waiting upon the Lord. I sat with my friend close by. I sat in the presense of the Lord for the first time in a long time. The Spirit came and filled me up. Filled all the empty places that I have been seeking to fill. He allowed me to sit and rest and reminded me that He always wants me to sit and rest in Him.