Joel 2:25-26

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame.”
Joel 2:25-26

This is one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament. I didn’t completely surrender my life to the Lord until I was 27 years old and in those previous years, I did a lot of dumb, destructive things. I could be left with a lot of regret over those years, but God’s promise to me, as His child, is that I will not only walk in His blessings, but He will somehow use and restore all of those wasted years.

I can truly testify that God has indeed used even my times of failure to minister to others and bring glory to His name. Whether it is personal weaknesses or broken relationships, God has a way of bringing things into His will.

Loving how He restores,

Pastor Gerard Deleeuw