Click Restore

When God restored the fortunes of Zion, it was as if we were dreaming.

--Psalms 126:1

My beloved laptop is on its last leg. If I spend too much time writing or surfing the Internet, it overheats and automatically shuts down. I wait for a moment and reboot, praying I'll hear that Windows chime instead of looking at the dreaded blue screen.

When I open up my browser, I am greeted with a prompt:

Google Chrome unexpectedly shut down. To return to previously viewed pages, click Restore.

One click and all of my favorite sites are up and running again. 

Last night, I was doing my usual shut down/reboot/pray/click routine when I thought about how nice it would be to have a Restore button in my own life. You know, something like that Easy button which is on all of the Staples commercials. Wouldn't it be nice to know that on your really bad days, you could click restore and have everything go back to normal? I laughed to myself as I thought about what I would pay for that button. It would have truly come in handy on what was a typical Monday, fraught with worries, issues and drama. 

And then I realized I don't need that button. I have Psalms 126:1.

The aforementioned verse is my family's official favorite Scripture. Years ago, I was sitting in my office reading and I found myself in the book of Psalms. As I read this particular verse, it captured my heart. I knew I not only had to commit it to memory, I needed it to share it with my dad and my sister. I sent them a text with this verse and it just became a part of our lives. When we end a phone call with one another, sometimes we say "as if we were dreaming" instead of goodbye. It's even at the bottom of our most recent family portrait, a constant reminder that God can and will deliver us from oppression.

Oppression is an accurate description for what is going on in our world right now. Millions of people are jobless; millions more are homeless or facing eviction and foreclosure. At night, many people lie down and toss and turn for hours instead of finding rest. Their minds are filled with anxious thoughts and their bodies seized with fear. In the morning, those same thoughts occupy their minds and control their daily tasks. To them--to you; to me--I simply say "Psalms 126:1." 

I know God can turn it around. I know because I have experienced it for myself. I have been in situations where the only scenario I could picture in my mind ended with a bad outcome. But God came along and opened the trap door--the one escape I could not see; the door that held the path to my deliverance, my healing and an overflow of blessings. I was restored. It was so good, it almost felt unreal. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. And I believe He can do it again.

This morning, perhaps your life is overheating. You find yourself praying for just enough power to reboot. Now is not the time for timidity; this is a season of audacious faith. Of course God can reboot your life, but He can also do something else: He can click Restore. 

Be Encouraged.

As If We Were Dreaming, 

K.