And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.  Joel 2:25 

God recently gave me a lesson, once again, through my little dachshunds, Elsie and Hugo.  It’s funny how He speaks to me using the goofy wiener dogs to get His message across! 

I’ve been praying and standing in faith for many years that God will bring much needed restoration to me in some areas of my life.  

While being entertained by the dogs, it hit me that they were a part of the restoration in my life.  I had two dachshunds before; a black & tan boy named Oscar and a tan little girl named Queenie.  They were my joy – I even had helped Queenie through her eighteen-hour labor to deliver their six little doxies.  They meant the world to me. 

Without going into detail, eleven years ago Oscar was brutally killed by someone I trusted; the person broke Oscar’s little neck in a fit of rage.  In order to keep Queenie safe, I had to give her to a friend to keep.  In one fell swoop, I lost both my dogs and the death knell rang on the relationship with the person who did the evil act. 

I kept praying for God to bring me another black & tan male dog and a tan female dog, as my heart’s desire is always to have a pair.  Several years went by before I found Elsie, a sweet dachshund my husband and I rescued from an abusive situation.  She was a tan little girl!  Two and a half years ago, Hugo came into our lives as a tiny black & tan puppy! 

It dawned on me the other day that I was definitely walking in restoration in the area of my dogs.  The story of Job was quickened to my spirit.  Job 1:1-3 introduces Job to us: 

There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless-a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.

Then, satan did his thing and Job lost everything – all his kids, all his herds and all his wealth.

 But, in the last chapter of the book, we see that God restored to Job ten more kids and double what he had lost:

So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters.  Job 42:12-13 (NLT) 

Sometimes I think our definition of a thing and God’s definition are not always conforming.  When I hear the word “restore”, what comes to mind is what Webster’s Dictionary says: 

• To put or bring back into existence
• To bring back or put back into a former or original state
• To put again in possession of something

Yet it doesn’t always show up that way.  When someone or something dies, it is impossible for that specific person or thing to be replaced – they are gone.  Job did get ten more kids and double the animals that he had before, but it surely does not mean he didn’t mourn the children who had died or didn’t miss the animals he had grown close to.  Restitution was made; however, restoration to “original condition” was not. 

Yes, I have two new wonderful, precocious and entertaining doxies, and I love them to pieces!  I believe God heard my heart’s cry and fulfilled the desire of my heart (Psalm 37:4).  However, it doesn’t mean I have stopped missing Oscar and his mate Queenie.  The pain of the crime committed against them and me has subsided over time, but I join Job in realizing that the joy of restoration is most often tinged with the sting of the original loss. 

I believe all of us often are actually experiencing restoration in our lives, but because it doesn’t look like what we expected it to, or because it isn’t identical to what we lost, we don’t recognize it as being restoration.  I encourage you to take a look at your life and ask God to show you what He has restored back to you.  And, as I am for the whacky dachshunds, I pray you are grateful for your restoration, however it comes to you. 

Keep the faith!