I Will Restore You the Years the Locust Have Stolen

I happened on the lesson tonight that Joel Osteen was sharing with his congregation. He is the minister at the largest church in Houston, I think it is called Lakeside Church, maybe Lakeshore. Anyway, his message was fascinating to me--he said some really inspiring things that I wanted to share.

He referred to the seasons of life and how when we go through a bad season, that God is a God of restoration and that He wants us to be restored. He not only is going to bring us out of the season of suffering, He is going to bring us out better off! He talked about how Hezekiah asked God to prove to him that He was going to restore him after his season of suffering and God turned back the clock ten degrees to show him by moving the sun backwards on the sundial.

He shared the story of Colonel Sanders and how he had worked for many years to open his store to sell his chicken and it was all destroyed overnight when they decided to build a freeway right through the location of his store. He lost everything and wondered if he had spent all of the many years he had invested in vain. He began selling his chicken to any restaurant that would buy it and had a frier in the back of his car so he could sell his recipe. One of his venders said it was so good, it was finger lickin' good. Now he has 11,000 Finger Lickin' Good stores! God can give you 1 idea that can change your life--He truly is a God of restoration!

God wants us to have a mindset of victory!! Joel 2:25--I will restore the years the locust have stolen....what a beautiful thought to put our trust in!! I love it!!

What keeps the plane in the air??

We had a coaches Reading Conference in Houston this past weekend, and I started thinking about the one thing that you're not supposed to when flying...the mechanics of the plane and the main question...what makes this plane stay in the air??! So then I started thinking about life and the things we deal with and I came to the conclusion that we put the same faith and trust into life as we do when flying a plane.

We don't know how it all works, but we know that the end result will be that we make it to our destination. We have turbulence along the way, and through it all, God provides people who support and sustain us. Our flights may be delayed or diverted to another course, but we reach the place where we are meant to be. We are led on this path and we think we know where we're going, but God is the One who has the Master plan, and it's not always the plan WE think it should be. The thing I have learned through it all, is that we are to accept the things that come into our paths, and then lay it on the table for God to take, we don't try to take it on ourselves, but to hand it over (as a wise woman told me today). We cannot put a limit in the things that God can do!!

I challenge you (and me!) to lay our worries down at Jesus' feet and allow him to show us what He is capable of and how His perfect love leads us to the places we need to be!