When we lose something or someone no longer wants to be a part of our lives, we sometimes long for the way things used to be. We believe that God can restore. But we somehow fail to see how He restores. We tend to think if we don’t get exactly what we had before, that we haven’t been restored. Or that God doesn’t want us to have it – whatever “it” is.
I heard restoration explained this way: God will give back to you what that thing or person meant to you. So, when He restores what’s been lost or taken from your life, He will restore what that person or thing meant to you.
Take for instance the pictures displayed. The picture on the left includes a ceramic Christmas tree that my mom would pull out every Christmas. That particular year, we decorated the tree with items that we usually put on a bigger tree – because we had moved from living in a house to an apartment. After my mom passed, I don’t know what happened to the tree.
But the older I got, I longed for those times that we shared around the holiday and decorating the Christmas tree – that one in particular. Fast forward to days ago when the store that I frequent included a ceramic Christmas tree cookie jar in their weekly ad – picture on the right. Even though I wanted it, it wasn’t a Christmas tree with lights.
I debated for a day whether or not to buy the cookie jar. Even though I can’t decorate it, when I got the cookie jar home and opened the box, that feeling of nostalgia reminded me that God had restored to me what that ceramic tree with the decorations meant to me all those years ago.
My Journey, My Story 