The Carpenter
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Psalms 51:12
Insight
If you had told January 2023 Sam everything that would happen in the year ahead, she would have snorted with laughter. 2023 was a year of unexpected joy and unexpected grief. I experienced beautiful things like going on an Encounter Trip to El Salvador but also experienced the grief of losing family members unexpectedly. However, this year has shown me that letting Jesus into the unexpected can bring something beautiful from broken things.
In choosing the word "restoration" for 2023, memories of my Grandpa helped to inform the person I wanted to become in 2023. My Grandpa was a master carpenter, and his dad was before him, so I grew up hearing and seeing my Grandpa work on some beautiful projects. But the one that stands out the most is his last one. His last project before he passed was restoring a beautiful historic home in my hometown. I remember walking through this old home and thinking how this place, with its dust and decay, could be brought back to life by just one person. But my Grandpa restored it to its original beauty while also making things better than they were before. This old house reminded me of myself.
Going into January 2023, I was feeling the weight of so much and feeling like I needed Jesus, the Master Carpenter, to restore and bring back to life in me things that I thought were long past being fixed. I was coming into 2023 with so much hurt from family relationships and anxiety that I needed to take time to bring those things to Jesus and allow Him to restore me. But I realized this past year and through journeying through this restoration process with Jesus that I need to be an active participant in this process. Jesus invites us to work alongside Him with our hammers and our tape measures to restore and bring back to life things that time and circumstances have caused to decay.
Jesus, in this past year, has shown me that healing and restoration can be found when you join Jesus in the work and allow Him to teach you how to fix broken things. 2023 was a year filled with working alongside Jesus to restore my heart and move closer and closer to a place of healing. Restoration challenged me in beautiful ways, and now I am excited about what my word for 2024 will show me.
Reflection
What is one thing that your 2023 MOW has shown you?
Prayer
Jesus, thank you for 2023 and for the ways that it challenged and inspired me to walk in partnership with you to become the person you have called me to be. Father, I pray that as I discern what’s ahead for 2024, You will let the experiences and my reflections of this past year push me toward a deeper communion with You. Amen.
Sam Noland, Treasure Island Volunteer Coordinator at our Wilmington Campus, wrote today’s devotional.