Some seasons leave us feeling like something was taken from us—time, opportunities, relationships, confidence, or even parts of ourselves. You look back and think, “That wasn’t supposed to happen like that.” You didn’t plan for the setback. You didn’t expect the betrayal. You didn’t see the storm coming. But there it was—wave after wave, and you’re left sorting through what feels like pieces.
And maybe you’re trying to smile through it. Maybe you’re doing your best to move forward, but deep down there’s this quiet question that you don’t say out loud:
“Can any of this really be rebuilt?”
Scripture doesn’t pretend the breaking isn’t real. But it also refuses to let brokenness be the final word. God doesn’t gloss over damage; He restores it—and He restores it differently than we expect.
God Doesn’t Start With What You Lost—He Starts With What You Have
We tend to mourn what’s gone. God tends to multiply what’s left.
There’s this powerful moment in Joel 2:25 where God says:
“I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.”
Not days. Not feelings. Years.
Only God talks like that.
Broken seasons can make you feel like the clock ran out, like you wasted too much time or missed too many moments. But restoration with God isn’t rewind—it’s redemption. He takes the parts of your story you thought were unusable and builds something stronger than what you had before.
Sometimes the very pieces you think don’t matter—the remnants, the leftovers, the small fragments of faith—are exactly where God starts rebuilding.
Ask the widow with the jar of oil in 2 Kings 4.
Ask the disciples with five loaves and two fish.
Ask the man bowed low for 18 years until Jesus called him forward.
God isn’t limited by what’s gone. But He is deeply interested in what you’re willing to surrender.
Restoration Isn’t Instant—It’s a Process of Partnership
We love miracles. We love sudden breakthroughs. And sometimes God does move that way, absolutely.
But more often, restoration is built slowly, intentionally, layer by layer.
Think about Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. God gave him favor. God gave him protection. God gave him vision.
But Nehemiah still had to pick up stones.
He still had to navigate opposition.
He still had to organize workers.
He still had to keep building when the progress was slow and critics were loud.
Restoration is rarely a magical moment—it’s a movement.
A rebuilding requires both God’s power and your participation.
You can’t rebuild walls if you keep revisiting ruins. Some things don’t need to be processed again; they need to be placed in God’s hands so He can restore what’s beyond your reach.
And yes, the rebuilding process might feel slow. It might feel uneven. It might even feel frustrating at times.
But slow progress doesn’t mean God is absent.
It means God is being thorough.
Restoration Doesn’t Send You Back—It Sends You Forward
Sometimes we think “restoration” means “getting back to the old version of me.”
But God never sends you back.
He always transforms you forward.
Think of Job. He didn’t get the same life back—he received a new chapter that carried the blessing of the old but none of the bitterness of the past.
Your restoration won’t look like your former season. And honestly, it shouldn’t. You’re not who you were before the storm. You’ve grown. You’ve deepened. You’ve learned to trust God differently. Pain has shaped your compassion, your maturity, your endurance, your discernment.
You’re not being restored to who you were—
You’re being restored into who you were becoming all along.
God rebuilds you with wisdom you didn’t have before.
He strengthens you with courage you didn’t know you needed.
He prepares you for doors you wouldn’t have recognized earlier.
Restoration is not about returning—it’s about rising.
God Restores in Layers—Not Just Circumstances, but Identity
Part of what makes restoration hard is that God isn’t just fixing what happened outside of you. He’s doing a deep work inside you.
Psalm 147:3 says:
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
That’s not surface work.
That’s soul work.
When God rebuilds, He restores:
- Your identity
- Your confidence
- Your voice
- Your trust
- Your hope
- Your sense of purpose
- Your intimacy with Him
Sometimes the circumstances change last because God is rebuilding the foundation first. What God restores internally, no one can take from you again.
Restoration Requires Room
When God starts rebuilding, He invites you to make room—room in your schedule, room in your heart, room in your faith.
Some things can’t be rebuilt around old clutter. Some habits, patterns, or relationships simply can’t stay if you want to move into a restored future.
For the Israelites, God didn’t restore them to Egypt—He delivered them into promise.
For you, restoration may include releasing:
- Old thought patterns
- Old bitterness
- Old cycles
- Old mindsets
- Old identities that were never yours to carry
You can’t cling to the familiar and step into restoration at the same time.
Let God clear the space He needs.
The Good News: God Restores, and Then He Redeems the Story
The story you’re living doesn’t end in ruins.
It ends in redemption.
Psalm 126 paints this breathtaking picture:
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.”
Your tears were not wasted.
Your season of loss was not the last chapter.
Your pain is being planted, and God knows how to bring a harvest from it.
Restoration means God rebuilds.
Redemption means He turns the rebuilt thing into a blessing that multiplies outward.
Your restored testimony is going to help someone else rebuild theirs.
A Personal Word for You
If you’re reading this and you’re in the middle of the rebuilding, hear this clearly:
You are not behind.
You are not forgotten.
You are not disqualified.
You are not too late.
God restores in ways you couldn’t orchestrate and on timelines you couldn’t predict.
What was broken is not the end of your story.
It’s the place where God is about to show His faithfulness in a way you’ll talk about for years.
Pastor Tricia's Ramblings 
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