Being Rebuilt

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you. . . will be rebuilt." -Jeremiah 31:3-4

Some events in life might compare to a hammer tap; others feel like a wrecking ball. These are times when it seems the very walls and structures of life have collapsed, and nothing will ever be the same. It may be a health reversal, the loss of a child or spouse, or a sudden financial setback. How are we to live among such ruins, when everything familiar has changed? Jeremiah 31:3-4 offers us hope. God promises Israel - and us - that He will work among the ruins, and do so with loving-kindness. Life may never look as it once did, and the landscape may be changed, but if God is behind the reconstruction, He will bring beauty and purpose where you thought you would never see it again.
Lord Jesus, help me not to spend the rest of my days looking over my shoulder, remembering what was - the way things used to be. In Your strong, gentle grace, renew vision and align my heart with You plans, Your intentions, for the rest of my life.

-From A Spectacle of Glory by Joni Eareckson Tada; p. 74

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