Whether it's recovering from a surgery, a loss in the family, our own pride, or any sort of straying, restoration can take time and diligent work.
It's often marked by a broken that perhaps not everyone can see.
Make no mistake. Each person has been broken in some way or another.
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I live in Alberta where the world is about cattle, fields of farmland, and the Rocky Mountains. The economy is built on the oil industry, and the battle between the Oilers and the Flames never quite gets resolved.
I grew up like most country girls running through fields of long crops, building forts in trees, and caring for a copious amount of cats. I was a shy tom-boy growing up and though I didn't go around playing sports or beating up kids in school, there's always been a little part of me that's wild; that's climbing a tree, jumping into a lake, or driving a little too fast on the highway.
I tell people I am a tomboy at heart and they kind of blink because I wear cute clothes and I'm not too rough around the edges (I don't think).
It's like that, sometimes, with brokenness. If I were to confess all the sin in my heart or the mistakes I've made, I think a lot of people might be caught off guard because I don't cause a big ruckus or outwardly strut my sin around on parade.
I've written, recently about following Jesus and about laying down idols, something that is always a work in progress.
I think, a part of that process is the work that Jesus does in restoring us to himself.
Thank-goodness it's not completely up to us to patch ourselves back together. My skills at this, at least, have always ended in failure.
1 Peter 5:10 says "the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
God does not promise no suffering, but that in our suffering, God might restore us.
In Jeremiah, the book I am currently reading about the rebellious nations of Judah and Israel, God promises restoration.
When life is overwhelming and we are drowning under a sea of tough circumstances our own self-inflicted mess, this is the message we need to hear.
Make no mistake, the entire book of Jeremiah is filled with a call to renounce idols and to turn to the living God. However, it is backed up by the promise that God has not left, but will restore the people to himself.
"‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. 8 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. 9 Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honour before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’"- Jeremiah 33:6-9
To be honest, I'd rather read Jeremiah 33 and ignore the rest of Jeremiah. It is like a breath of fresh air compared to the doom and gloom of the rest of the book (although I believe the rest of the book to be immensely important). The fact is that God is always like a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of our lives.
Different seasons in life lead us to different places. And sometimes those places are very broken- whether a making of our own or a difficult circumstance out of our control. Sometimes, as in 1 Peter 5, the restoration we need is from suffering that is outside of us, not necessarily something of our own making. Other times, the restoration we need is from the broken of our own mistakes.
It is with great relief that we can always count on the faithfulness of God in every circumstance; knowing he loves us and brings us through, knowing that he has called us to eternal glory in Christ, and knowing that he will restore us who place our hope in him.
Restoration is still arduous, but less so because we know that God is in it and is, himself, working out this restoration.