I’ve seen a lot of brokenness on this race. It’s been heartbreaking to experience first hand. Right now, I’m in a country that went through a genocide just twenty years ago. I didn’t know how to process that. It turns out going through the memorial museum that’s in Kigali made it more real and unbelievable at the same time.
I’ve also seen restoration in incredible ways.
Restoration is a beautiful thing that requires a lot of commitment. It’s a lot more like running up hill than a Pinterest project. When you run up hill, you can always see the goal. At the same time you can feel how the earth is set against you. It would be easier to stop, easier to go back down to where you were. The gold in restoration is when you keep going.
“Revelation is not restoration.”
-Betsy Cañas Garmon
My mom says this a lot. Because when you’re in your twenties you stumble upon a lot of revelations and want to short cut the restoration side.
I don’t have to do what my family of origin has done. I can walk in this area of my life in a healthy way.
That’s a revelation. Restoration is walking it out. Showing up the same habit that’s going to bring health in this aspect of your life. Restoration is acting on revelation that there’s brokenness that can be made whole by striving towards the Lord.
Restoration is trusting people to come along side you to help you get to the top of the hill. It’s inviting others into the process. It’s a community that gathers together on the last Saturday of every month to pick up trash or dig trenches for new schools.
Restoration looks a lot more like the walk the prodigal son had to make back to his father’s house. It’s leaving the mess you’ve been in and finding yourself in the embrace of a God who’s been waiting for you to come back. It looks like a party celebrating return. God says if we return to Him, He’ll restore us (Jeremiah 15:19).
Restoration is a walk up hill while we listen to the song of rejoicing our Father sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17).
