Restored

What happens when life leaves us broken, wounded, or feeling like we've lost more than we can recover? Can God really restore what was taken from us?

In this episode of Running Our Race, “RESTORED,” we dive into the beautiful promise of God's restoration and His ability to bring healing, peace, and renewal into our lives.

Joel 2:25–26 reminds us that God can restore the years that have been lost. Through the Hebrew word Shalam (Strong's H7999), we explore how restoration goes beyond simply getting something back. It carries the meaning of making whole, bringing peace, making amends, and restoring what was broken.

But why do we suffer? And how should we respond when someone has wronged us?

Through Isaiah 57:15, 18, Proverbs 20:22–24, and Proverbs 16:7, we are reminded that God sees our pain, heals the brokenhearted, and calls us to trust Him rather than seek revenge. We don't have to fight every battle ourselves. God knows how to bring justice, healing, and peace in His perfect timing.

God restores us because we are His children, but we must also continue running our race in obedience. When we fall, His mercy is there to lift us back up. When others wrong us, we can trust Him to handle what is beyond our control. And even in seasons of suffering, we still have a reason to praise Him!

Restoration doesn't mean the race will always be easy, but it reminds us that our setbacks don't have to be the end of our story.

Keep running. Keep trusting. Keep obeying. And through it all, KEEP PRAISING HIM!

Remember: What feels broken or lost is never beyond God's ability to restore. 🏃‍♀️🔥

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Running Our Race. Today's episode is titled Restored. So when I think about being restored, I normally come back to this verse, which is Joel 225 to verse 26. And it says, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter. My great army which I send among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. The way I wanted to tie this in was like whenever say you're running a race and you get injured or like something sets you back, right? Uh from running a race properly. Um this verse caught my attention because or it came back to my mind because I was thinking, like, okay, what happens if like say someone has to stop their race for whatever reason, right? Or they get off track, what for whatever reason, right? God wants to restore you so that you can be able to continue to run your race. And when I was looking at it, uh I went in and I looked at what restore was in Hebrew, and it's shalam or shalom. I don't know how to pronounce it, but uh I'm gonna put the screenshot and it says to be safe. Uh one of the other ones that I'm gonna go back to is uh give again, to perfect, to perform, to rec recompense, to render, and to make restitution, to restore and reward. When we're thinking about this definition, I came across uh Isaiah 57, 15, and then I'm gonna skip to verse 18. And it says, For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him. I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners. I started thinking, like, why do we suffer? And how do we get past it? Well, sometimes God allows things to happen to us because we have to pay the consequences, which is um something I think I'm gonna tie into later. But um when we continue to chase God instead of chasing maybe what we fell into, God is eventually gonna bring is gonna heal us, he's gonna comfort us, and he's gonna restore us to um where we were before and maybe even better because he wants the best for us as his children. Now on the flip side, if we were wrong and now we're suffering, like we didn't do anything, um, and people paid us wrong, regardless, um, there's a Proverbs about it, and it says it's Proverbs 20, verse 22 to 24, and it says, Do not say I will repay evil. Wait for the Lord and He will deliver you. Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false skills are not good. A man's steps are from the Lord, how then can man understand his way? At first I was just gonna put verse 22 because I was like, Well, you know, that's the part that has restore in it, which is I believe deliver if I remember right. But when I kept reading it, I was like, Man, a man's steps are from the Lord. How then can man understand his way? So when we're running our race, we need to make sure that our steps are from the Lord, that what we're doing is from the Lord. Because at the end of the day, I f there was something I went through recently, and I was like, why did I do this instead of that? And I realized that it was God speaking to me, telling me not to do the thing that sounded like if it was the right thing, and I did the other thing. Because at the end of the day, God is directing our steps, and God is always speaking to us, but it's up to us if we listen or not. Proverbs 16 7 it says, When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies be at peace with him. Maybe we've been wronged and we didn't deserve it, but uh God allows it because it's part of our journey, right? It's part of our race. But like I said, on the contrary, there's peace. There's times, there's gonna be times where as followers, we're gonna be running our race, and maybe like people don't like Christians or they don't like whatever. And they'll be like, Well, wait. You know what, there's something good about this person now, who basically bring peace to the environment, giving peace to the area, and people want to have you run because you are reflecting God's light. Regardless of who's supporting you or not, like we need to keep running. And we need to reflect God in a way that you know other people are gonna want to join the race because maybe people aren't on our race, because you know, obviously everyone's race is their own. But I also think that um people need to just show that their race is doing good despite their hardships, and other people want to join along. And so my main point of this episode is that God wants to restore us because we are his children, but we also need to run our race in obedience. If we fall, he is merciful, he will pick us back up and he will restore us. And if someone does this wrong, he will handle it. But through it all, we have to praise him. And I wrote this down because it was just a quick thought after everything I read. And and this is really the main point, and I pray that this episode is a blessing to y'all. Um, I'm a little under the weather, that's why I'm kinda whispering, and I have the mic really close to me, so hopefully y'all can hear and everything sounds good. Um and hopefully my voice doesn't sound shithaky or anything, but um, regardless, I hope I got the message through, and I hope that this message really blesses your life. Um, as much as it blessed mine reading it, it gave me a lot of peace, honestly. Reading this, and it gave me strength to continue with my week when I was studying for this earlier this week. So I pray that it's a blessing and continue to run your race, and I'll catch y'all on the next one.