A Time to Heal: How God Mends What Life Has Broken

Discover how God restores disappointment and invites you into renewed hope.

"A Time to Heal...." Ecclesiastes 3:3

Discouragement and disappointment are soul destroyers. They gradually seep into the depths, unravelling the root fibres of faith and hope. You may not notice at first, until you find yourself losing expectation and struggling to hold on.

The Weight of Lost Hope

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

The word “deferred” here is translated from “mashak,” which means to draw, pull, or prolong. The connected image is one of dragging; imagine someone or something heavy being hauled with difficulty. It is a weighty, slow, and energy-draining process. When hope is delayed and left waiting without any sign of change or answer, the soul gradually weakens and becomes weary and sick.

Desires fulfilled are a tree of life.

The heart is our inner being: our mind, will, and emotions. The term “chalah” describes the weakness that overtakes us. Chalah relates to sickness, infection, wounds, and grief - these are the weighty things that physically, mentally, and emotionally drag us into a place of questioning and doubt.

Have you been in that place of weakness and soul weariness where desires are unfulfilled?

Purpose in Wilderness Places

As we find ourselves in the weariness of delay and waiting with seemingly unanswered prayers or changes in sight, the dragging can reveal two options;

Despair or Opportunity.

Despair is the lost and lonely place where we believe the lies of being abandoned, alone, and without hope. Desperation deceives our thinking and emotions into false narratives. Soul sickness begins when the truth is deliberately hidden. It is an age-old tactic that pulls us off track.

Opportunity is when we accept where we are and lean in for wholeness with eyes of faith. The questions don't have to be answered for us to respond with our choice. We don't have to understand the reasons—we just have to choose to trust. The wilderness becomes an invitation to refine our faith and sift our character. We discover that nothing else makes sense except for God.

"Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-5)

True hope does not disappoint us when it is directed to the one who IS HOPE!

Healing is available in surrender! - Choose despair or choose opportunity!

Oasis of Restoration

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)

An oasis in the desert

The barren places are where maturity is developed, and dependence on Him alone is forged. Surrender is where we relinquish our self-reliance and connect with the true source and river of life.

We may mistakenly view hope as merely a belief or emotion, but hope is a person to be known intimately. When our faith feels withered and diminished, God shows up, and renewed life begins to spring forth.

The rocky ground becomes a road, and the dry parched atmosphere is filled with renewed life.

Where the living water flows, life springs up.

The Exchange

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

Our God of Hope exchanges heaviness and despair for abundance. He intends for us to abound in expectation because He is expectant, available, and ready.

The term “perisseuó” means to be in abundance, to overflow, and to excel. Hope is meant to overflow, not drain away. He is ready to fill us with all joy and peace—this is His favour, delight, and healing rest at work within us.

A time to heal is part of God’s restorative and redemptive work. It is ongoing and continuous. He is always restoring, renewing, rebuilding, regenerating, and redeeming all that is lost, broken, stolen, and destroyed within us and around us. Healing and wholeness are found only in Him.

Joy, peace, fullness, and overflow are ready for you!

🌱 What parts of my life need God's healing and restoration today?

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