Tag: #restored

Restoring Faith and Identity after Shame and Loss

It was October 2023 when I finally admitted that I was scammed. I couldn’t believe it – how foolish could I be?!! I lost a huge 6-figure sum, but more than that, I lost all my confidence, trust and identity. For months, I cried tears of shame and guilt.

WEEK 8 Theme: Restoring Faith and Identity after Shame and Loss

The experience of being scammed brought deep meaning to the words, “God’s redemption and restoration” – as I lived through it in a real and painful way. I was brought to a lonely desert place, where God redeemed me with His grace and restored me with His love. When all I could feel was shame and I wanted to run far away from God, He pursued me relentlessly with His fierce love and held me tightly in His loving grace.

He brought friends who prayed and supported me, books that enlightened me, and songs that helped me weep. He restored my shaken faith and broken identity. He restored me by renewing who I am.

Weekly Intention

Each of us has past experiences of shame and guilt – but they do not define us:

  1. Identity one past experience that has haunted you for a long time. Find a safe time and space to sit with it and experience the emotions, however painful or uncomfortable they are.
  2. Place your pain and suffering at the foot of the cross – releasing them to our Great Healer, Jesus.
  3. Simply ask Jesus: Please heal me, redeem me and restore me.
  4. Thank God for His great love, mercy and compassion.

Our negative past experiences will continue to hold us captive if we do not release them to God – trapping us with their lies about who we are – lies that we are not enough, or we can’t be trusted, or we have nothing to offer.

I rebuilt my confidence through God’s faithfulness. The money may or may not return in the same form, but something deeper already has – my identity as a daughter of God. This post today is my testimony of God’s redemption and restoration. And also to close this chapter of my life, so that I can move on to new chapters.

Question: What lie did shame plant in me – and what trust is God restoring in my life?

Restored to Your True Identity

I was reading the passage of the Prodigal Son today – how the father welcomed back his youngest son who squandered his inheritance after demanding it from his father. Usually, I would relate to the elder son who felt indignant that his father celebrated and welcomed back his prodigal son. Today, I had an epiphany – like the younger son, I too had squandered the many blessings God had given me.

WEEK 7 Theme: Restored to Your True Identity

The younger son had sought freedom, pleasure and fulfilment outside of his father’s house – and ended up losing all his money and starving in a pigsty in a foreign land. In shame, he wanted to return back to his father’s house as a servant. But his father ran towards him from afar, welcomed him back and restored him as his heir. The father celebrated his son’s return by getting his servant to fetch him his robe, ring, and sandals. And on top of that, he slaughtered the fatted calf to have a feast for him.

What a wonderful imagery of restoration – being reinstated and celebrated as a beloved child.

Weekly Intention

In our lives, we neglect the many blessings that Our Father has given us. We squander our time, opportunities, and calling. We run away to find pleasure. We distract ourselves with social media scrolling or food/wine or other self-indulgences. We strive for performance and perfection. All in futility…

This week, we will set our intention to live as a Child of God, and not as servant. Hence, we will need to change our mindsets:

  1. Stop performing for Approval – I don’t need to do/achieve more to please God, but to know that I am already deeply loved. I serve from love, not for love.
  2. Replace fear with Security – replace punishment and shame with security in God’s love. God is always waiting for us, even when we have squandered His treasures.
  3. Make decisions from Identity, not insecurity – stop chasing validation and needing to prove our worthiness, but be secure in our identity as a Child of God and in His love and grace.

Question: Where have I been living like a servant instead of a Child of God?

Allowing God to Restore Our Souls

Restoration is God’s work of making us whole after we have been slowly drained, neglected or wounded – often without us even noticing.

WEEK 5 Theme: Allowing God to Restore Our Souls

This week is about permission – permission to slow down, to stop pretending we’re fine, and to let God heal our soul. For God is our creator – He understands us like no one else. He knows our secret thoughts , our deepest longing, and our hidden desires. He is aware of our years of carrying, coping, striving, and staying strong. And He grasps that we are tired, exhausted, and muted – for He realizes that many of us have been surviving on an empty tank or low fuel.

He restores my soul – Psalm 23:3

Weekly Intention

This week, let us do a contemplative practice of allowing God to restore our soul (5 minutes):

  1. Settle Down (1 minute) – sit comfortably, take a slow breath in and an even slower breath out. Let us create a space to enter God’s presence.
  2. Become Aware (1 minute) – gentle ask yourself, “What feels most tired in me right now?”. It could be your body, your emotions, your mind, or your spirit. Whatever comes up – just notice it. No judgement.
  3. Turn Toward God (2 minutes) – simple pray this simple sentence: “Lord, I allow You to restore my soul”. Just sit with the words, and gently return to this sentence if your mind wanders.
  4. Rest (1 minute) – stop the words, sit quietly and breathe. Let God do what only He can do – restore what you cannot fix by trying harder.

Weekly Reflection Question:

Let God heal and restore your weary soul – to bring joy that has gone quiet, to give hope that has been postponed, and to revive dreams that have been buried. God restores us by aligning our soul with His still water, where clarity returns.

Question: Where do I need to allow God to restore me, instead of trying harder?

From Broken Dreams to Restored Hope

Nehemiah was a Bible character, who was a cupbearer for a Persian King. When he heard about the deplorable state of the walls of Jerusalem, he was heartbroken.

What are issues of the world that breaks your heart? For me personally, it’s women who are stuck with their broken dreams, longing for restored hope. For many years, I was feeling restless and stuck – through God’s grace, He restored my hope by helping me pursue my divine dreams.

Restoration demands Action

When Nehemiah heard of the broken walls of Jerusalem, he fasted and prayed. But he didn’t stop there, hoping someone will do something about it. He boldly asked the king’s permission for leave, and even boldly requested for safe passage to Jerusalem and rebuilding materials for the wall.

We can easily bury our dreams, and forget them. That’s what happens to many of us. But God puts divine dreams in us to fuel the fire of our hearts and to take action.

Expect Resistance

When Nehemiah started rebuilding the broken walls, there were people who mocked and even threatened him. But Nehemiah resisted them with this famous quote:

So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” — Nehemiah 6:3 (NKJV)

How often we buckle under pressure. For me, I always get distracted and procrastinate easily. The verse above reminds me: I am doing God’s great work and I need to focus. It’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I’m able to overcome resistance and distractions.

Hope is Restored when we Rise

When the walls were repaired, it wasn’t just stone and mortar that was rebuilt — it was the people’s faith. What once seemed impossible became a testimony of God’s power. And the same can be true for you. When you rise up to rebuild, your courage won’t just restore your own hope — it will ignite hope in others too.

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: step forward in faith, for God is ready to turn your broken dreams into restored hope.

Your broken dreams are not beyond God’s reach, but you must decide: Will I keep living among the rubble? Or will I rise and rebuild my divine dreams?

When Hurt Meets Prayer

Hurt has a way of making us pull back, to withdraw and to stop caring. But that’s not what Jesus did when he was criticised, betrayed and abandoned, even put to death. He taught us how to use prayer to become a bridge between hurt and healing.

Jesus Brought His Pain to the Father

In Gethsemane, Jesus knew betrayal and suffering were moments away. Instead of hiding His pain, He poured it out in prayer. He didn’t mask His anguish; He invited the Father into it. When hurt meets prayer, we learn to bring our wounds honestly to God, trusting Him with what feels too heavy to carry.

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.” – Luke 22:42

Jesus Prayed for Those Who Hurt Him

On the cross, in the midst of unimaginable pain, Jesus prayed for the very people who caused His suffering. This is where prayer as a life habit changes everything — it keeps our hearts soft even when they want to harden. When we pray for those who hurt us, we allow God’s love to flow where ours feels impossible. It’s not by our strength but by God’s grace.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” – Luke 23:34

Prayer Restored His Strength to Love

Jesus’ consistent habit of prayer wasn’t just for moments of crisis; it was His lifestyle. That ongoing connection with the Father gave Him the strength to keep loving, even in the face of hurt. When prayer moves from a verb to a way of life, it becomes the steady rhythm that keeps our hearts alive. This is how our strength to love again is restored.

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” – Luke 5:16

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: When hurt meets prayer, healing begins. Jesus shows us that prayer isn’t just what we do in pain; it’s the posture that allows God to restore, soften, and empower us to love again. Do you let your pain, resentment and bitterness harden your hearts, but let the amazing grace of God embrace your heart and make you whole.