Redeeming And Restoring The Past

Isaiah 54:4
"Fear not, you will no longer live in shame.....The shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood will be remembered no more..."

It's all about turning the page....
Moving on....
Making that commitment to and for Jesus.
Following Him through the decisions that you will make each day.
Learning how to "hear" Him when He speaks.
Learning how to pray for yourself and for others.
Reading your Bible for understanding that you can use in your daily life.
Giving away what has been freely given to you.
Learning how to worship...in groups and by yourself.
And last, but certainly not least, connecting yourself to a community of like minded individuals.
These are the things that are a part that new life we talk about here in this blog.
We do them, not because we have to.....
We do them because we want to. We are given a hunger by God to seek out and be a part of Kingdom.

Each one of us comes to God with a past.
When we make that commitment to Him (some call it getting "saved". Others refer to it as "being born again.") we give Him our entire self, including our past. All the shame and guilt and depression are placed in His hands. God brings healing to those places deep inside of each of us. we turn over to His care, every moment of disgrace we've ever faced. We turn loose of every tear we've ever cried. We let go of every word we wish we could take back. We lay down every broken promise. All the times we told family and friends that we were on the road to wellness and would never use again, yet turned to the darkness and went right back into it.  We place at His feet every dream that has died because of the addiction. In our yesterday's are turned over to His care....and we allow Him to heal us of the scars and wounds that measure the score of the damage we've done.

My God is the God of restoration.
He wipes the slate clean of our past and begins the process of rebuilding and restoring.
He will rid us of the shame and guilt and fill up all the empty places in our hearts.
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We had our first meeting or Vineyard Recovery Fellowship last night, and God was gracious as the evening progressed.
A time of teaching and explanation of what VRF was going to be about.
A time of worship and ministry as people came to the front for prayers.
Much healing, both emotional and physical.
Tears of joy and relief.
It was a good start.
VRF will be a place where we learn "how" to follow Jesus.
I shared last night that if we had to define who we are as a group, then my wife said it best....We are a group of people "Following in the steps of the carpenter."
We'd love to have you come and be a part of VRF.
We'll be meeting again next Saturday, 7 p.m.
If you can't come, then pray for us that we would stay the course that God has laid out for us to follow.
Thanks....

God on you....
mb