This day is the first of the season for the small village known as Walton on Thames. Winter storms are a frequent visitor, but today is the first for the winter season. The sky is powder blue with a bright sun on the horizon setting off the contrast with white-topped roads, fences, and trees. Kids are taking advantage of the few inches of overnight snow with snowballs coming at anyone who dares to venture outside!
From the safety of the warm study window is looks peaceful and calm. I know the snow and the winter season are part of the restorative process the earth will go through to renew itself in the spring. With the hard freeze, the tulips will blossom in the future. Plants now covered in snow and ice will grow again, triggered by the warm of spring days.
The snow will not last, it rarely does. Does this mean that restoration must cease as well?
God is working to restore each of us to our full potential. It is hard to realize in the middle of the life just what we could be. I find myself blinded by the trouble of today, unable to see out even a few days, much less a lifetime. Often I look at where I am at, with all the flaws and weaknesses, and wonder what I can become. Everything seems so fragile and precarious. It is as if my life is a deck of cards wanting to tumble at every new wind or push. Is this is the life God wants to work with?
God knows you and I far better than we do ourselves. He knows every failing intimately. God understands with a knowledge that defies comprehension and still declares that we are his children and friends, destined for full restoration!
In order to restore us, God needs our help. Saying yes does everything. Our yes takes us “into obedient belief” (Romans 16.26) and the power of love, acceptance, grace, and mercy changes us from the inside out. God's power restores us to our true creation!
