Jesus: The restorer of our souls

  • Amber Rice Miller
  • April 28, 2014
  • 361
                        
Summary: Amber shares that keeping our minds on Jesus as our loving Savior and allowing Him to work on our behalf is good for our souls. The other day I saw an old picture of my family on my dad’s side as they were gathered together at my Grandma Lucy’s house for Easter. I would say it was from around 1966 or 67. At first the picture made me smile, as warm memories of family members flooded my soul. But then I started looking at all the family members in that picture that weren’t with us anymore, and my happiness turned to sadness. Instead of focusing on where they are now, I focused on the fact that so many people that I loved and who loved me were no longer here on earth. These people were supportive of me and thought I was special, especially my Dad. To him, I was always daddy’s little girl and that made me sad because I didn’t have that anymore. I thought about how different things are now then when I was a kid and how many people aren’t in my life anymore that used to be. I became overwhelmed with grief. I was in a funk for a couple of days because of what I was thinking about. Instead of thinking of Jesus and all that I have now, I was wallowing in self pity about days gone by. I needed a restoration of my soul. The service at church the following Sunday helped pull me out, because it got my mind back on Jesus and the hope that is in Him. Getting our minds on Jesus is so important. Isaiah 26:3 tells us that He will keep us in perfect peace, he whose mind is stayed upon Him, because we trust in Him. I think the 23rd Psalm has some key truths to restoring our souls as well. Verses 1-3a read: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul. There is a lot packed into those verses. Notice that it says we shall not want because the Lord is our shepherd. The shepherd takes care of his sheep, just like God will take care of us. We need to trust in that, and I think that is why that verse is directly followed by “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” We recently moved and now we have some pasture fields. When meditating on that verse I envision Jesus walking me back to our field, and saying, “Now you lay down here and rest.” This verse is symbolizing that we rest because Jesus is taking care of us. When we try to work things out, He can’t, because we are at the reigns. We need to let go of those reigns and rest so that He can go to work for us. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? And I think it says He MAKES us lie down because so many of us won’t; we try to control our own lives! But just like Mary rested at the feet of Jesus, He wants us to rest in Him as well. Resting in Jesus working on our behalf is much better than us ever trying to do things ourselves. He wants to take care of us and He wants us to allow Him to. The next part, “He leads me beside the still waters”, has me picturing Jesus then guiding me to a beautiful, serene little pond. He has me just sit there and relax by it. It is so still and peaceful. This reminds me of Psalm 46:10, which tells us to be still and know that He is God. This is so important in our fast paced world. We need to be still, and get all the distractions out of the way so we can meditate on our awesome, loving Savior. Being still is good for our soul! It brings our focus back to what is really important, and that is Jesus. When we are still it is easier to hear God speak to us. Too many times we are too busy to hear His gentle voice whispering to our spirit. Being still before the Lord has an incredible calming affect over me. Maybe today you are feeling like I was. I want you to try to picture in your mind what I did, and also Jesus speaking this to you: “Rest in me my child. Allow me to go to work on your behalf. Let go of those reigns and let me have them! Get your mind off of everything else and be still and know that I am your God. You are my beloved child and I will take care of you. I love you more than you will ever know.” Oh how Jesus restores my soul! (Questions or comments? Amber can be reached at amberdeemiller32@gmail.com)


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