Advent Challenge 2017 - Day 5 - Restore

Write about a time you were restored to health or wellness

This was a topic I wasn’t sure what to write about.  Initially I thought I had nothing, that I hadn’t really had an experience where my health was restored….I mean any more than anyone has when healing from an injury or getting over an illness.  But then I thought about the deeper meaning behind the word ‘restore’

Definition of restore

restored; restoring
transitive verb
1 : give back, return
2 : to put or bring back into existence or use
3 : to bring back to or put back into a former or original state : renew
4 : to put again in possession of something

And I thought of two examples in my life of this.  The first was an experience of my friends laying hands on me and praying for a restoration of relationships, of peace and joy and of, essentially, these things within my marriage.  

It was an amazing experience on a few levels.  To feel this kind of love, of acceptance, of support from a group of friends is awesome.  To feel the calm that settled in my heart afterwards, to see the difference in how our entire household began to pull together, to experience the sense that everything was going to be ok… absolutely amazing!!!

The second was the giving back of my hope, of my joy, my optimism and even my confidence in the healing of my heart after we lost Cole is sort of the ultimate restoration for me.  Putting back, bringing back into existence my joy and hope was not easy and it took years.  But I do feel now that I am in possession of this hope and joy and something more...peace.  I wish for all of you, especially those with wounded hearts, to have your joy, your hope and your peace restored.