Reframed

Memories are peculiar. Mine look rather like a drawer of photos that I have in my house which direly needed to be sorted and put into an album. Occasionally I rummage around and a picture pops up to the surface bringing a jolt that spins me back into the past.

As you remember your past, do you see snapshots of different years? Some may warm your heart. Others may bring a wave of loss or regret.

I was speaking recently at a retreat and as I was praying for it, I had a picture of God tenderly reframing an old photo in a beautiful gold frame. The sense was that a relationship or period had ended badly or sadly and that as a result, every happy memory beforehand had been tarnished but God was recovering them. As we prayed about this, a number of people had deep encounters with God where he did this for them.

The nature of God is to redeem. He is the God who not only mends broken hearts but can even redeem a broken past. He promises to restore the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25). This is an especially precious promise for me for prison ministry but we all need this promise.

Locusts are nightmarishly terrifying, clustering in their millions to destroy thousands of acres of crops across Africa, devouring green shoots and leaving dusty clouds of death and devastation in their wake. It is to such destruction that God promises restoration - not only of our lives but of our years, of our wasted days and our harsh memories. Only God can reframe the past with his love. Only God can restore the years the locusts have eaten.