Restoration

My favorite character trait of God's is that He is a master restorer. Well, the restoration character trait is a close tie with His faithfulness, but restoration is a barely favorite.

What I mean by restoration is this: God is the master at creatively taking something bad and transforming it into something good. Now usually it's something for our own good, but sometimes it's simply for the good of someone else or for His glory. See, not everything that happens in your life and mine are about us - sometimes God allows things to happen in our lives for someone else's good. That's a tough thing to understand, but it's true.

But again, God is the master at creatively taking something bad and transforming it into something good.

And while there are many great examples of that in the Bible and in history, I'll tell you what that's looked like most recently in my life.

Last summer, in July, my dad was laid off. For the first time in my life, for the first time in his life, for the first time in my mom's life as a wife - he was without a job. This was very unexpected and we really didn't know what to do, especially since we were also trying to bring in some income from our investment property in the Northeast which had been vacant since the previous summer. The news of the lay-off was not good - not at all - and could not have come at a worse time.

Fast-forward to today, 8 months later, and he's still out of a job. Thank God, our home is now being rented and between that and my dad's Social Security income, we're ok. It hasn't been easy at all, and it's not comfortable, but we're ok. We're not starving or lacking by any means. And sure the extra income of him having a job would bring the stress level down - but actually, I don't know if I want him to work full-time anymore.

This is where that restoration thing I was talking about comes in. Ever since my dad lost his job, he's had a lot more time to improve his computer skills, sharpen his musical skills, and most importantly, he's had a LOT more time to just be with my mom. They've always had a solid relationship, but all this time having my dad at home has really helped them strengthen their relationship.

Talk about restoration! Talk about taking bad and making it good! I would much rather scrimp and save and go without and have my parents have more time to just enjoy each other, than have a little extra money but have a dad who is tired after working all day and who doesn't have as much time to enjoy his wife as he does now.

Whatever it is you're facing right now in your life, know that God is good and He is the master at creatively taking the bad and transforming it into something good.



Thanks, God, for taking the difficult situation of my dad losing his job and turning it into a great opportunity for my parents to draw closer to each other.