22/01/2025
There are times in my life where I feel worn down, burned out. I can feel more easily irritated with people and oh so frustrated! Is that you today? Do you feel as though your soul is downcast, a touch of depression has slipped in, and those tears are being only just held back? Almost as though your life is quite simply upside down. These are time to cry out to the LORD, “𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹!”
God is indeed our Good Shepherd, and I am certainly a sheep. I go astray, I wonder off, I like to do things on my own, in my own haphazard way. How thankful I am that our wonderful Father is that shepherd who will always come after me, showing His patience in so many ways.
Here’s something interesting I didn’t know before. Have you ever heard of a ‘cast sheep?’ Many sheep have a tendancy to roll onto their backs and as their feet loose contact with the ground they find themselves unable to turn back over. Sometimes it’s because their wooly coat is overgrown, or they are out of shape and overweight. But try as they might, they cannot right themselves or turn themselves over. They are upside down. They have to wait for the Shepherd to come and turn them over again, to set them on their feet once again.
How like me in my own life – the stress and weight of the world causing me to feel as though everything is mixed up, upside down, difficult, tiring. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗱, 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝘆, 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗰𝘂𝗲. 𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 ‘𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘀.”
The Hebrew word for restore means ‘𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯.’ God will return us to a place where there is life, energy, vision for the future, but we cannot do that ourselves. Only God can restore our soul. Only our loving Father can make things right again. We cannot do this on our own and cannot carry on in life as though we are the Energizer Bunny! Even he runs out of power eventually.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘀? Through His Word, His Word that brings life, renews our mind, gives us the strength to run and not grow weary. Psalm 19:7 tells us: “𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡; 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙊𝙍𝘿 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚.” My desire is to be restored, wise, full of vision, energized, right side up!
Today if you feel spiritually beaten down, exhausted, if you’re weighed down by the burdens of the world. Perhaps on the receiving end of something unfair, so weary that you feel that you cannot overcome. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝘀𝗼𝗮𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱, 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲. 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗛𝗶𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹. 🦋❤️
