Restoring Wonder

I know. I’m bordering on broken-record-ness. God is good. Repeat. Repeat again.

What more can I say, really?

Well…I don’t know about you, but I am a forgetful, color-blind woman. I need the reminding. I need to remember who I am in the light of who He is.

I need to see, really see. If I’m honest (and that’s all I want to be), then I openly confess that most days I sort of half-wake to His Presence. I wander. I search with eyes not really open and a heart not really seeking.

How else can I get to the end of a day, which in itself is a gift from God, and literally have difficulty remembering the beauty in any of it? Did I even take note of it at all? Or did it pass me by like a blip on my screen that I didn’t look at long enough to fully comprehend?

I want to see…really see. See His brushstrokes and creative goodness, His good gifts that He gives each and every waking breath of every day. The gifts He gives and gives and gives again.

One of my favorite scenes in scripture is the story of the blind man to whom Jesus miraculously restores vision:

“22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, ‘Do you see anything?’

24 He looked up and said, ‘I see people; they look like trees walking around.’

25 Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”

Matthew 8:22-25

Most of us can testify that we need Jesus to touch us and open what is closed. Restoring what is broken is what He does.

I don’t know about you, but my heart’s desire is to be restored. Now, I realize that when Jesus saved my soul, I was eternally restored. I do not need convincing where that fact is concerned. But as I walk out this life of faith, I have found that I need to be reminded of the wonder and joy, hope and vision of Jesus – not in the eternal sense, but in the right now.

I think of the man who was blind, (in the story above) and the posture of those who loved him deeply. They “begged Jesus to touch him.” And He did. But first, Jesus invited the man to journey with Him. It says, “He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village…” (verse 23).

Sometimes we need to be led “outside.” Outside our present circumstances, outside our four walls and our ways of survival…so that He might position us, bring us, into a place of clarity, and ultimately, a place of joy.

Have you lost your wonder?

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”

Psalm 51:12

Yes, Lord!

Oh, may we never stop bringing those we hold dear to the One who offers healing, but may we not forget to bring ourselves…over and over again, if need be. We are not meant to live a life of survival and drudgery. We were created to be alive, to receive, to see, to behold His Presence surrounding us each and every day.

That is the gift that belongs to us. His goodness. His mercy. The wonder in all of it.

The song I want to share with you today is new from Hillsong United, called, “Wonder.” It is quickly becoming one of my favorites. They have a couple versions of this song, but the acoustic one (included here) is definitely my fav. Enjoy!

 

With joy for the journey,

Sarah