Some of you may remember the car wreck in the kitchen episode a few weeks back when my husband opened a cabinet door, and an
avalanche of glass crashed to the floor.
As I said in that post, I couldn’t really tell what was
broken as there was so much glass, and it was in a multitude of tiny pieces.
Last week, my friend, Lynn, handed me a cardboard box from
the back of her car.
“What is this?” I asked not understanding.
“I read your post about the broken glass,” she said.
I pulled back wrapping paper, and found a vintage glass serving
tray, bowl, and condiment dish.
The serving tray was exactly like one I used to have—one
that I hadn’t seen since the big shattering. Though she had read the post, she couldn’t have possibly known
what might have been broken.
I thanked Lynn, who I found had taken time from a recent
vacation to visit antique stores and find the pieces.
So, I lost a tray, but through the kindness, sacrifice of
time, and resources of a friend, I gained the tray back plus more.
This reminded me of a spiritual principle God showed my friend,
Marion Bond West, when her husband was dying of brain cancer. She later wrote
about it in The Nevertheless Principle
and Look Out Fear, Here Comes Faith. The books are now out of print, but
the principle is still just as valid as ever. Marion writes, “No matter what is taken away from
you, if you keep your eyes on Jesus and praise Him, He will restore it to you.
You will be joyful to the exact same degree you have been hurt. What you have
lost will be replaced . . . joy for mourning . . . beauty for ashes . . .” Of
course her text is from Isaiah 61:3 “ . . . to bestow on them
a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of
despair.”
God is in the business of restoration,
folks. My broken glass is but a tiny example of what God can do. So amazing
that even as I wrote this piece, I received a Facebook message from a man who
lost his wife to cancer several years ago and thought his life was over as
well. But he found new hope with a Godly woman God sent to him, and they are now happily
married.
So if you think you’ve lost everything, you
haven’t. Wait and hope for God’s restoration. Remember “. . . joy for mourning
. . . beauty for ashes . . . “