WORDS THAT START WITH "RE"
 

Very soon after landing in my Belvidere townhome, “trials like sea billows” rolled in on me. Looking back, I actually believe that I was more physically fragile than emotionally. The two work together, it’s true, but I am quite sure that the shock of Ken’s death had hit my body with a crushing blow. Personal struggles almost did me in.

It was hard for me to understand why those around me would not seek to protect me from further pain. There again, looking back, I see it a little more clearly…perhaps. I think that folk have trouble grasping the total devastation that engulfs a person when their spouse departs, and furthermore, if you give any appearance of being strong, they miss it entirely.

Thus it was. Much of my immediate circle was absent and obviously not strong enough to be a stalwart support. Big trouble came. And I must say that conflict erupted very soon after the memorial service. As I drove away from that service, I wept all the way to my “home” for the week, admitting aloud that I could take anything without Ken except family issues. Those, I knew right well, would crush be quickly.

In my new townhome, many hours were spent face down in the carpet, crying out to God for help. My Bible became my strength and my pillow. I’d find a wonderful verse, take my black Sharpie and write it out on a flowery piece of stationery and hang it on my wall. For a while those verses of hope hung in every nook and cranny. I would not have made it without them.

It was during this time that I discovered three verses, close to each other in the Psalms.

Psalm 80:3 - Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

            I identified. I cried out to the Lord

Psalm 80:7 - Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
            This seemed a little more desperate. So was my cry to the Lord.

Psalm 80:19 - Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
            I understood the psalmist's growing intensity and I repeated his very words to God with tears.

Oh, how intense was my prayer! Oh, how I wished for our family to be restored and to experience the shining of God’s face upon us! The desire of my heart came into focus.

Only recently, while reading Lamentations once again, a favorite of mine, my attention was joyfully called to the last couple of verses. They stopped me in my spiritual tracks. I knew immediately that these would be my “hang-onto” verses for the next little while. They go just a little deeper into the issue of being restored and I love it.

“Restore us again unto Yourself that we may be restored. Renew us as in days of old.” (I deliberately leave off the verse that follows because I hope in the mercy of God that it does not apply to us.)

Restoring is nice, but being restored unto Him is awesome. And being renewed as in days of old…yes, back to those days when love abounded and our naïve hearts were simply and securely devoted to the Lord…it is a hope strong enough to pull me to my knees.

I love words that begin with “re.” Rejoice. Rejuvenate. Renew. Restore. Reconcile. Redeem. Repay. Replay. Reconsider. They are all encouraging and second-chance words.

“Restore us again, O Lord God of Hosts! Let Your face shine that we may be saved!”