Restored

(This post may trigger old feelings, stop and be safe if you need to)

I woke up yesterday and God gave me the verse,

“I will restore the years that the locusts have eaten.”

That’s a lot of years.  There were times when I thought I would never be well.  Times when I had given up hope of living.  Times when I took script drugs so I could just ‘zone out’ and not feel anything. There were times I thought I was crazy – when the “voices’ wouldn’t shut up in my head.  There were times when I had no place to live, and no job, and no money, and kids to support.  Times when I lived in a Domestic Violence shelter with my children, just to get a break from the endless cycle of abuse.  There were times when I overdosed on a Dixie cup full of antidepressants because I didn’t want to be depressed anymore – yeah, not the best thought process there girl!  And when I tried to hit the cop that came with the ambulance, and I got to wear the “I-love-me-jacket” all the way to the rubber room.  Times when I found out my husband was sleeping with my best friend – more than once, more than one husband…

Yep, that’s a lot of years. And yet, God promises to restore to me all those years the enemy has taken from me.

RE·STORE
Verb
      *Bring back; reinstate.
      *Return (someone or something) to a former condition, place, or position.
Synonyms
return – give back – renovate – renew – rehabilitate

And the most amazing thing is, He has.  God is faithful, He will do what He promised.

Today my life does not look like it did 10 – 20 years ago.  I am not wearing the I-love-me-jacket anymore.  The kids and I are safe.  I have a job, I have a house, there is even money in the bank, praise God. I have the most amazing husband now – truly a gift from God. He doesn’t scream at me, doesn’t shove me around or hit me, and the words coming out of his mouth are kind and loving;  And he is faithful – thank you Jesus! And no, I am not depressed anymore – no more Dixie cups.  I have found that the more I read God’s Word and renew my mind, the more joyful I become.  I am free from the past and free from the “voices”, they no longer shout at me.   Jesus has shut their mouths and kicked them out…and He will do it for you too – if you let Him.

GOD’S PROMISE TO YOU:

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.

 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
And My people shall never be put to shame.

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:
I am the Lord your God
And there is no other.
My people shall never be put to shame.  (Joel 2: 25-27)

“Therefore all who devour you will be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity. And they who despoil you will become a spoil, and all who prey upon you will I give for a prey.

“For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord, because they have called you an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no one seeks after and for whom no one cares!” (Jeremiah  30:16-17 AMP)

dianarasmussen

Diana Rasmussen is a Faith Builder, Worship Leader, Veteran’s wife, and a Certified Peer Specialist. At her blog Prayers and Promises she shares from her heart on how to find hope in this crazy world!

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