Creation....Damaged.....Re-creation ♥

I met a woman....she is convinced that God hates women. :(  Through the choices that she's made, she's come to a place where she continually sees woman used and abused, damaged, thrown around and discarded. She was adopted and raised up in a Christian home attending church and has read the Bible through a few times. But through difficult life experiences from a teenager on, her heart has become bitter and sees no hope for woman. As she shared her hurting heart with me, her 6 month old baby fussed and whimpered...even he didn't like what he was hearing from his mamma. But as I told her how beautiful she was, what a beautiful baby she had and how much God loves her, this baby cooed and smiled. :)  She began arguing the fact and continued on in her hurt and the baby began whimpering again. I gently disagreed and reminded her that man cannot live alone, that God created woman as a good thing that man cannot live without but the Devil/sin took that beautiful creation and has turned it into something so lustful and twisted that God never intended...God is good, loves her and her baby and has an amazing plan for them both...and the baby wiggled with glee and smiled. ♥  Oh how the Good Lord uses the wee ones to minister to our broken hearts!.....it made me smile too! :)

I walked away disheartened though. Some people, women, have incredible pain and hopelessness...how can that be Lord? What has brought someone to that point? Who am I to be talking to her when I don't even know what I'm doing at times? At times I feel so helpless and inadequate myself. But this I know...I do know, without a doubt, that Jesus is the only answer.  Without him there is no hope...as much as humans try to convince themselves of it....a life without the Love of Christ grounded deeply within them, there is NO HOPE.  I came home with much on my heart and sat in the dark in my car and listened to a song asking the Holy Spirit coming down and reigning in us...how desperate we are for him to speak, touch, move, live and love through us and how we cannot do anything alone without him.

This past Sunday we had Cassandra Basnett, founder of Justice Rising, come speak at our church. I've never met anyone quite like her. She's a young lady in her mid-20's who goes into the darkest places in our world and brings HOPE with the love of Jesus Christ. She walks into the brothels to rescue women, she goes into the war-torn areas and rescues child soldiers....she has no fear but the Armor of God with love surrounding her very being and she goes into these areas and brings hope and restoration. Her stories are amazing...why??...because of Jesus!

This morning when I came downstairs to work on my Bible study, God knew EXACTLY what I needed to read. :)  He is amazing!! Here's some excerpts I read this morning from the True Woman - Divine Design study that was written by Mary Kassian and Nancy Leigh Demoss:

The design was incomplete. Without woman, the story just didn't make sense. 
How can a man express the story of Christ and the church without a bride? How could he showcase the relationship? How could he depict the union? How could he be fruitful without her? He couldn't.
And how could the man portray the love Christ would have for His bride, and how could that bride's respectful and adoring submission to Christ be pictured, unless the woman was brought to the man?
Woman was vital to the story line. Without her, there would be no story, and no one to hear it either. The creation of the woman provided a vital picture of Christ's bride.

After God created woman, things were Very Good.
God created woman delightful, remarkable, truly wonderful!

"Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work...The works of his hands are faithful and just."  Psalm 111:2-7

New life in Jesus gives us the freedom and power to live according to this divine design. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can delight in the differences between man and woman, live in accordance with Scripture's standards, and allow our manhood and womanhood to recite God's magnificent poem.

Much of humankind is badly damaged but the restoration can be even more amazing than the creation. We were created so beautifully by God but being born into a sinful world, damage, hurt and pain happen. "The original design was splendid. But the miracle of restoration enhances the beauty. Knowing the drama of 'our' whole story, one can only gaze in wonder. The creation was great. But the re-creation is even greater...no matter how ugly the layers of sin get, God is in the restoration business. He is a great, redeeming God who is making all things new, through the work of Christ on our behalf. His divine power and love can re-create and restore lives to its original design--that beautiful work of art intended to display the loveliness of Christ. Are you wanting a makeover? Will you let Him re-create you according to His Divine Design?"

Yes Lord, do a beautiful, completion work of restoration in our lives! ♥