I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten. Joel 2:25

I was listening to a pastor’s wife speak on YouTube and in the conversation, she mentioned “and God was faithful to restore what the locusts destroyed.” She mentioned it casually, as part of her story, but something in my heart released and I felt tears in my eyes. He restores the destroyed years. The lost years. The broken years. And a weight lifted off of me. Regrets released. Buried dreams came to light.

This last year was kind of a momentous one for me. The start of a new decade, 2020. The start of a new decade in my life, I turned 40. Add to that a 10 month quarantine and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on deep regrets and broken dreams this year. And my heart has wrestled with what feels like lost years, lost dreams, lost expectations. I started following Jesus a little late, age 20, and even after that, I made choices I wish I wouldn’t have. Add to that the fact of living in a broken world. And as I’ve looked back over my last decades and looked forward to my future ones, I’ve really felt the weight of those years, and the dreams never realized.

And as this woman spoke these words, I felt God’s sweet grace and mercy sweep over me. Because He IS faithful to restore the destroyed years. To take broken dreams and make them into new ones. To take selfish decisions we’ve repented of and wash them with His grace. To take unmet expectations and redeem them. To take the spaces and people that have failed us and be our ever-Faithful.

To everyone waiting for an answer to long whispered prayers

To everyone grieving a broken dream

To everyone regretting bad choices and wrong decisions

To everyone with a broken heart over failed people and failed plans.

To everyone looking back on locust-destroyed years and feeling deep loss . . .

Know these truths:

His mercy is so sweet. His grace is unending. He is so faithful to our very little faith. He is our Redeemer, the one who comes into our broken hearts and broken lives and restores the destroyed years. He weeps with us. He grieves with us. AND He redeems us. Gives us new mercies every morning. He is so very faithful to restore our hearts when we let Him.

As we start a new year, if you’re feeling the heaviness of bad choices, broken dreams, lost years, bring them to Him.

And like Mary, let Him put a song in your heart.

Like Hannah, let Him put hope in your life.

Like David, let Him turn a heart with regrets into a heart after His own.

Like Elijah, let Him restore your weary heart.

I’m crying tears as I write this, humbled at the tender sweetness He has for us. The God who shouts with celebration over our return from bad choices and broken dreams. Who RUNS to us. Loves us. Forgives us. Restores us. The God who sees the places we feel failed, our prayers that feel unanswered, our hopes that have been deferred; and fills our hearts with His peace that passes all understanding and His deep abiding love. The God who restores what the locusts have destroyed.