DEAR WIFE,

Everything good and beautiful in my life crashed into a thousand pieces. I was brought very low. So low in fact, I lost all hope. Have you been there? I have a feeling maybe you have.

Soon after learning of my husband’s unfaithfulness, a friend shared these precious words from Scripture—

“The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while” (1 Peter 5:10).

There are so many rich truths in that one tiny verse. God is the God of all grace! He has called me to his eternal glory in Christ! My suffering is temporary! But here’s what literally knocked the wind from me—the promise that God HIMSELF will set to work to restore, establish, strengthen and support me after my season of suffering.

God himself.

Can you picture it? Restored. Established. Strengthened. Supported. All by the very hands of God himself.

Oh, how the tears fell as I read those life-giving words. You see, I felt the very opposite. I felt shattered, ruined, weak, and abandoned. I felt like a helpless case—a ruined woman set on the shelf of life and church and ministry. I felt my future evaporate in an instant.

But this promise of restoration is true, and I’m here to tell my tale: the Lord himself, my Restorer, bent down and picked up each piece of my shattered heart, soul, family, my very life. He set to work, restoring all the broken pieces of me. He re-established me by giving me a new home in himself. A safe Home, full of love and care. He strengthened me through my suffering. My faith muscles were made strong. He supported me by setting me within a church that became my new family. He set my feet on the solid rock of his faithfulness. The ground no longer shifts. I am propped up by his loving-kindness.

Oh friends, what sweetness in these words: God himself. Doesn’t it show his intimate care? And it echoes forth, to that golden horizon ahead…“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man...GOD HIMSELF will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” (Rev 21:3-4).

Full restoration—today, tomorrow, and forevermore. Amen.