What restores YOU?

After drying the coins, I looked at them a little disappointed I couldn’t completely restore them to their rightful state and then the spirit said, "they may be tattered, but the value of the currency didn’t change".

““Look, if religion is not your thing and you don’t believe in God there is no judgment, God however is what I believe. My job is not to force you or try and convince you to believe what I believe; all I’m doing is sharing my thoughts.”

Restoration

There’re always extensive conversations when it comes to our faiths, beliefs, and religion. The truth is you must know what restores you. In life we have acquired different taste in food, clothes, music, and cultures. This is because we are all different people, and no two people are alike. Just formulating that thought does something to my spirit. NO TWO PEOPLE are alike! How awesome is it that our supreme being God my heavenly father made each one of us DIFFERENT! Look, if religion is not your thing and you don’t believe in God there is no judgment, God however is what I believe. My job is not to force you or try and convince you to believe what I believe; all I’m doing is sharing my thoughts. I know it’s not for everyone but if you’re interested in another perspective on restoration keep reading it might be for you. The Oxford dictionary defines restoration; as the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition. I was at a restaurant last night and I put a drink in my son’s cup holder not realizing there was an earring in there to puncture it. The drink began to spill all over the loose change my son had in the cup holder, the change had seen better days, this obviously wasn’t the first soda spill and the change had been there over time. After removing the soda cup, soaking up the remaining soda, I looked at the change and decided to just clean the cup holder. I removed all the change putting it in a bag, black gunk, and all because it was currency, I don’t believe in wasting any resources. When I got home, I decided I was going to wash this loose change and restore it, I rinsed this change around ten times trying to rinse all the gunk off but most of it remained so I put it in a bowl with dish washing liquid and bleach (I’m from the south, bleach cleans almost everything to us), I decided to let it soak overnight thinking when I awake I would wash them again and they would be restored. Unbeknown to me when I woke up, I washed them and rinse them again the black gunk was still coming off. Finally, I washed them a few more times, the water was clear, the coins were clean, but they still looked very tattered. After drying the coins, I looked at them a little disappointed I couldn’t completely restore them to their rightful state and then the spirit inside me said they may be tattered, but the value of the currency didn’t change. I thought about myself and began to shout, this has been the most trying two years of my adult life but I’m so unapologetically grateful to God my value didn’t change, he still loves me the same, when I’m up and when I’m down, to God I’m still valuable. Just as I restored those coins and tucked them safely away so has our heavenly father tucked us safely away. When I think of restoration, I reflect on one of my favorite biblical books the book of Job, Job is also one of my favorite people in the bible because he’s an example that sometimes-bad things happen to good people. In Job’s story reading it I always say I don’t think people realize how sick Job got, he didn’t have a slight cold or a stomach bug he was really sick. Sick unto to death, to the point where his flesh was rotting, and he was losing appendages, he was dying on the outside but still living. No modern medicine like morphine to ease the pain, his body was deteriorating, his wife wanted him to curse God and die, then she laid down in the cattle pin to face her own death, his friends were very few. He was broke, his children were dead, not only sick he was now a widower, had no earthly possessions and no reason to want to live. After enduring hardships for however long, some believe it happened over the course of a few weeks, others believe it happened over the course of two years, it was even theorized it took place over the span of forty-two months. The truth is we don’t know how long Job suffered because the bible doesn’t say but what we do know is he suffered and at the end of his suffering after a selfless act of praying for his friends he was restored. Job was no longer sick unto death, for the act of kindness to his friends blessed him. In fact, the scripture in Job 42:11 says All his brothers and sisters and everyone he knew before came and ate with him at his house, they consoled him over his troubles and each one gave him a piece of silver and gold ring. The latter part of Job’s life was more than the former, God gave Job DOUBLE for his TROUBLE. He doubled his fortune, blessed him with ten more kids, he lived to be one hundred and forty years old and saw four generations of his kids and when he died, he was an old man full of years. With Oxfords definition of RESTORATION Jobs story proved true, his earthly possessions were returned, I also feel he was returned to God (his owner). It sounds and looks good reading it and I’m more than sure Job was extremely happy and grateful for his latter life, but just as those coins were still tattered, the remnants of Job’s ailments didn’t disappear. After Job’s battle with his sickness, I’m sure he was a cripple, he’d lost appendages, the deep indentations from the sore boils he suffered with surely scarred his skin. Every time Job saw himself, he was constantly reminded what he had been through, yet still eternally grateful for what God brought him through. When you are restored, it doesn't omit the storms you've been through, they just become a part of your story. Find what restores YOU?