A Restoration of the Heart

My best friend and I were born 12 days apart. It would be funny to add up the hours we spent together hanging out in her basement. We shared our hearts on a daily basis. I helped her with algebra and she helped me with dating advice. We made decisions together, spent lazy Saturday mornings together, and laughed until our bellies hurt. Eventually, she made her way to the University of Iowa with me for college. We shared friends and food and took the hardships together. When we moved into our “adult” lives, our friend group from college continued meeting on a yearly basis at a minimum. It was at this point that we had a falling out. She no longer wanted to participate. After a flurry of angry emails the relationship ended in a matter of days. It has now been a decade since our falling out. We have barely spoken, except for a few sentences at a high school class reunion.

It took about five of those years to realize that I had a role in our falling out (because I’m humble and also a fast learner). Plenty of blame is mine. I was a demanding and bossy friend. I often tried to manipulate her behavior with my criticism. I held our relationship with a closed fist.

It took a few more years for me to offer forgiveness to her. This was done in my heart because she would not receive any kind of contact from me. But it was honest and it lifted a huge burden from my shoulders. It was a burden that had been making me sick every time I thought about it. The burden made my other relationships harder. This burden of blaming her was causing me pain.

This is where we sit today. She has not chosen to communicate with me in a decade. The only reason I can share that with the world is because, with the help of Jesus at every step, I have been able to truly forgive. This has led to a restoration in my own life, even though she has no idea of my story.

Today I can say that I am free of anger and spite. I know this because we bumped into each other in the mall a month ago. I was happy to see her and her mother. I was happy to exchange a few brief words. I hope for the best for her and her family.

God has restored my heart from this terrible burden. From the pain of the lost relationship, the ugliness of not forgiving, and the sickness that it causes as we tighten our grip while trying to make it right in our own power.

Thankfully, God is able to forgive me for the part I played, which is good news for my soul. And even though she and I are not back in a relationship, this is still a restoration story.

Restoration is about the work that has been done in my heart. God is making all things new. This experience has grown my hope as I eagerly await the redemption of my body and this earth (Romans 8).

Lindsey Ungs
Connection & Communication Architect

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Teen Restoration

One day I was sitting, chatting, alongside a teen. We’d been chatting about normal things, what classes had homework, what activities would happen next weekend, whether or not the teen should pursue a job, etc. Out of the blue, the teen turned and looked me in the eye and said, “I can be me here.” 

I was confused. “Huh?” was my novel reply.

“No really, like, I can be me here.”  The teen went on to explain, “I can’t be myself anywhere else.  If I say what I want to at school, kids look at me funny, post nasty comments, or talk behind my back. They’re just jerks. But here, I can say what I’m thinking, like really thinking.  And I know I won’t be made fun of. Nobody will laugh at me. I feel safe here. That’s really why I come every week.”

And you know what…the teen is exactly right! That is exactly why attendance happens every week for this teen!  The teen is starting to experience Isaiah 54:4 with real skin on: “Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; don’t be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth,”

But what else has this teen truly experienced? RESTORATION!! This teen knows that there is hope, unconditional love and truth being offered here. I love knowing that this hope and restoration is offered only because we, ourselves, have experienced the freedom Christ’s restoration brings and we want to pass it on! This is why we do ministry, even in the midst of every day uncomfortable moments and uncertainties.

Cathy Poole
Children’s Ministry

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Restoration

Sometimes the word broken can create a picture in one’s mind of a thing that is beyond repair—a shattered window, a broken vase—things, that if we tried to fix them will never be restored to their pre-broken state. Glue on glass just doesn’t do it.

Sometimes the word broken can refer to something that is currently unusable —a broken down car, a snow blower—things that need a new part installed to replace faulty pieces that have gone bad.

Sometimes the word broken can refer to relationship dynamics—lack of communication, lack of understanding, inabilities to see eye-to-eye, lack of respect—things that with counsel and prayer *could* potentially be restored, but not always.

Sometimes we seem something as “broken” when it has been neglected—an abandoned house, old barns along the highway, a rusty cast iron skillet.

I actually really love cast iron. It’s the only type of skillet I own. I have multiple ones for different uses—one for eggs, one for meat, one for pancakes and quesadillas, and other meals. And a tiny little one as the spoon holder on top of my stove.

When Rick and I first got married, we discovered an old giant cast iron skillet in his parents’ basement that been largely neglected over the course of 30 or more years. It was dirty, rusty and covered in cobwebs, crud and burnt-on grime. Thinking it was beyond rescue, it had been stashed away many years prior.

Until I saw it. And let me tell you I was excited to see what I could do with this beauty.

I brought it home and began the restoration process.  I cleaned it, scrubbed it with a coarse salt to remove rust and grime, boiled water in it, removed more layers of grime, seasoned it with oil, heated it to set it in, seasoned it with oil again, heated it to set it in and repeated the process until it became black, shiny and smooth. In its restored state: It. Is. Beautiful—my biggest and best cast iron skillet yet.

Broken doesn’t always mean beyond repair. Broken doesn’t always mean throw out the old and get a new one. When we see a broken world, when we hear that Jesus can fix broken things, I don’t see Him casting it away or just replacing a broken part.

I see Him spotting an old and rusty cast iron. I see Him saying, “Oh! I love it! Because I created it, I know the process to cleanse, shine and restore, to bring it back to a beautiful and useful state.”

“Because I created her, I know how to restore her. Because I created Him, I know how to claim and bring him back to beauty.”

He knows.

He knows what is beaten and stashed away in an old box in the basement.

He is familiar with rust.

He is familiar with cobwebs.

He knows about crud and grime and 30 year old dust.

He’s not afraid to go after it and claim it and take it home.

He’s excited to restore us back and show the world what all He can do.

If you come to my house, I’ll probably show you my giant cast iron and tell you the story of how I brought it back to life.

Leah Carolan
Director of Worship & Media

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Offering Hope When All Else Contradicts

Restoration:  (noun) the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition.  However, last week I read “Restoration offers hope when everything else in life contradicts.” This was a concept I could easily wrap my mind around.

Hope was offered through Cedar Hills this year when we restored our Sunday class kids and youth ministries. This happened after the derecho when many were unsure of life due to troubles regarding cleanup and rebuilding. When the restoration process began we weren’t sure what it would look like. How many kids per classroom?  Do we limit class sizes? Would we have willing teachers?  Should we focus on storm clean up instead? Would kids come? However, through prayer (“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” ~ Matthew 6:33) we determined it was the right time and path to pursue. Now, we’ve seen hope being restored and it looks like this: “I have kids in my class again, Mom!”  “My teacher taught me that God will give me what I need.”  “I have joy in my heart again,” stated one teacher after hearing the kids tell her the gospel story!  Even a simple, “Cathy!  You’re here with us today again?!” from an online class student demonstrates such renewed hope. Restoration has been offered to other Cedar Rapids ministry families when they’ve joined our church family for a week or two for personal retreat and renewal. Teens have experienced restoration by hearing scripture stories again because they have not been able to attend their home church due to COVID restrictions. Some days we still don’t know what the path to restoration should look like or feel like, but we do know that 1 John 5:4 states: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

Cathy Poole
Children’s Ministry

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