Joel 2:25a - Restore to You

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten...
Joel 2:25a

We all have those days that we just can't forget. The anniversary, the first I love you, the birth of someone special. But we also have those dates that are not so beloved, remembered for deaths of loved ones, of heartaches, of disaster.

This past week last year marked the beginning of an ordeal that I will never forget. Each time I write the date, I remember where I was last year at this time, and believe me, each time it feels like a victory. Like a "look who's laughing now" in Satan's face.

I am glad I am not where I was then. It was my absolute lowest, most vulnerable state. I didn't think I would be walking back in the doors of my house in peace and safety - EVER. To put it in perspective, I recently survived a near miss of a tornado dancing closely around my house with a lot less fear than others find normal, and it's due to how terrified I was of the fallacies my own mind created for the 12 days (and longer) surrounding this ordeal last year.

Writing the dates in this new year reminds me that we get a new start with God and that he can and does replace what the enemy destroys in our lives. Last year, if you would have told me I'd be sitting here at my computer lazily typing these words, wondering how much of this story to include and how much to leave out like I was selecting pictures for a photo album, I probably would've been too much out of my mind to even understand what you were saying.

But here I am.

A person satan didn't destroy.

A person that will keep getting up again and again.

Maybe I will have another crazy, manic episode like that.

Maybe I won't.

But I'm going to continue being a picture of the person God restores because I'm never giving in.