“Refresh Restore Revitalize”
“Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:2
“Refresh. Restore. Revitalize. Rejuvenate. Energize.”* How strange. How God. I was down on my face before the Lord one morning thanking Him for all His goodness, beginning with Jesus dying on the cross for me, and then going on and on to praise Him, when, sad to say typical of me even more so when I am tired, I began daydreaming even as I prayed. And then it was, as my right eye began to wander even as I remained on the floor half praying, half daydreaming, that I saw of all things the edge of a towel I had jammed under my little bed that has no frame under it. I wanted to protect the bottom of the bed from any possible moisture I had had a feeling was coming up into the cement floor slab of my house, so there lay the towel. A strange towel, it was. A most unusual towel where towels are concerned. For I noticed for the first time as I stayed on the floor looking at it that etched toward the bottom of it were five words. Refresh. Restore. Revitalize. Rejuvenate. Energize. And then it was the Spirit of God moved upon my heart. Exceedingly exhausted as I had been lately, this was precisely what I needed. And I had come to know where to find it. The Spirit of God moved in me that herein lay a message for us all.
How quickly we run to the things of this world to be refreshed, restored, revitalized, rejuvenated, and energized. Vacations. Spas. Massages. Exercise. Restaurants. Entertainment. Whatever. Stuff. People. Desperately seeking a reprieve from life’s pressures, stresses, challenges and trials. But our suntans, relaxed muscles, smoothed skin, stuffed stomachs, provide nothing more than fleeting relief for our exteriors. Only now I have come to find that real, pure refreshing, restoration, revitalizing, rejuvenating, and energy is in Christ. In the Lord God almighty. In communing with God. In crying to Him. In healing by Him. In releasing the pressure to Him. In unloading the burdens to Him. In listening to Him. In resting in His arms. In hearing Him. In soaking up the love of the Son of God. In God’s fellowship. In feeling Christ’s nearness. In reading of the Lord’s hope. In meditating on God’s mercy. In praising Him for His everlasting goodness. In sleeping in His embrace. In falling on my face before Him. In remembering His promises even as the hurts of this life leave their bruises and scars. In thinking of forever with Him. In following Jesus as He leads me into eternity. In curling up in a ball safe in God’s strong tender arms. In seeking Him. In receiving His never failing love. In knowing He is. He is God. He is mine. I am His forever!
Come to the Lord. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus and follow Him forever! Rest in God’s love and majesty forever!
* Name of towel company unknown.