How many times have we been certain of something being beyond repair; a totaled car, a dilapidated old shack, a favorite pair of old boots?  Usually, it is fairly obvious when we need to give up on that lost cause and move on.  It’s a different story, though, when we are talking about people, relationships, illness, broken hearts, wandering souls.  Maybe we have been in desperate situations or someone we love is in trouble somehow and we’ve thought things like:  How can this ever be fixed?   This dream that was once so full of promise is now dead.  There are no do-overs.

Several years ago I was sitting in my bedroom contemplating the burden I carried for a loved one and feeling overwhelmed that I could find no way to imagine a mended outcome for their situation.  I clearly heard the Lord speak to my heart that evening that He restores what cannot be restored.  I understood that God was meeting me in my anguish to show me that there was hope even in this impossible situation.  I picked up my guitar and started singing, “You restore what cannot be restored.”  I sang it over and over again, crying tears of worship in the presence of a God who can do anything.

Sometimes we may look around and perceive all the beauty that once held promise, appear to merely be contained in a distant memory.  All we can see are the broken places that need healing and restoration.  I wrote this prayer some time ago when it seemed there were just too many battles to face.  I believe that God hears and that prayer is powerful.  Many times it is easier for me to have a prayer written down and to pray it out loud.  As I pray I can feel my heart gain courage and assurance, leaving my burdens in His care.  He is bigger than anything that scares us or threatens to destroy us or our loved ones.  He sees and knows all and He is Lord over everything.

Prayer

O God, who raised Jesus from the dead, would you breathe life into our family?  Will You turn the ashes of brokenness into beauty?  Will You restore eternal things; dreams, hearts, futures, unto You?  Will You in all Your glory and mercy remind us once again who You are, and may not a single one of us miss it or choose another.  Let apathy be a place that none of us is willing to inhabit.  May we care about what You care about.  Will You remove the stronghold of fear from every one of our hearts?  May we not be bound by the past or by unbelief.  Will You set our hearts free to live in You and for You?  Lord, bind the enemy’s plans and expose his lies.  May we be free and joyful and passionate in You.  May ours be a family marked by Your love and the life You gave for us.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…  Ephesians 2:4, 5

You restore what cannot be restored

You restore what cannot be restored

You spoke to me and You said to my heart that

You restore what cannot be restored