Each year in August the village of East Aurora, NY holds an annual classic car show. Main Street is closed off to traffic for the day and the street is lined with old cars and trucks, most of them beautifully restored. This is a large event and the street is filled with people walking and admiring the numerous entries.

I enjoy going to the show, not only because of the classic cars that are there, but because of the memories they bring to my mind. The old Plymouth Belvedere reminds me of the one my husband owned when we were dating, and the large pink Mercury reminds me of my father. My father was a Mercury man. Whenever he bought a new car, it was always a Mercury. One year he couldn’t decide between purchasing a blue or a pink Mercury, so he discussed it with the family. A vote was taken and the general consensus was “Let’s get blue.” So he went and bought the pink one! The year I saw the gorgeous pink Mercury at the car show, I had to smile and take a picture.

The car show is more special to me now, because my older grandson has an entry in it! Cody owns a 1985 Dodge Ram50 truck that he has restored and made his own. It’s an unusual little truck that is admired by many.

My grandson has a new restoration project. He’s been working on an old motorcycle. He likes sharing his progress with me, showing me the parts he’s gotten and taking me into the garage to see what he’s done. He has sent me a few pictures, too. Look at this!

But that’s not how it looked when he started! It took a lot of work to get it to look like that. At one point in time, Cody’s beautiful red motorcycle actually looked like this:

When Cody is restoring an old vehicle he spends a lot of time exploring junk yards and searching eBay for just the right part he needs. And then comes the struggle of putting it on and making it work. The restoration process takes a lot of time and patience.

I am reminded of a little chorus that was popular when my children were young:

He’s still working on me to make me what I need to be; It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the earth, and Jupiter and Mars, Oh, how loving and patient He must be, ‘Cause He’s still working on me!

Did you know that God is in the restoring business? And He does it with love and patience! One of the greatest things I am thankful for is that God is so patient with me.

Recently I saw a Facebook post that read simply and sadly, “I have failed!!!” I do not know the circumstances behind that statement and I was taken aback by the words. My response to the person who wrote it was, “Haven’t we all.” But this is when God can come into our lives to do the great work of restoration!

First and foremost, God desires to restore our relationship with Him. This is accomplished by a simple act of faith in what has already been done for us!

Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God, because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us…our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son… –Romans 5:1&10 (NLT)

But this is just the beginning. The restoration process continues because we are an imperfect people. We make mistakes and do wrong things. And sometimes our bad choices have dire consequences, not only messing up our lives, but affecting those around us. We become despondent, and in despair we hang our heads and cry, “I have failed!” Can restoration take place even then?

We tend to think that restoration is getting back what has been lost, but that’s not completely true. When a car is being restored, what is broken must be fixed, but what can’t be fixed needs to be replaced. Broken pieces and ruined parts are forever gone. A restored car is NOT the same car it originally was. With different parts and a new coat of paint, the car has been given a new life. It doesn’t get back the pieces that were ruined. And this is a truth for us as well. Some consequences of our actions can’t be changed. We can’t always go back to what we were or what we had, but we can be restored and given a new life!

Job lost everything. His health, his possessions, his family. But at the end of the story he is restored! His health returns and he has an abundant life. But the possessions and houses that were destroyed are forever gone and so is the family he lost to death. But God blessed him with new possessions and another family. He was restored and given a new life!

King David was a “man after God’s heart” and yet he really messed up! He committed a grievous sin by committing adultery with the neighbor’s wife and plotting to have her husband killed! There were consequences to his misdeeds. He suffered loss. But David knew about the God who restores! His prayer of repentance is found in Psalm 51. In the middle of his prayer, he prays for restoration.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me by Your generous spirit. –Psalm 51:10-12

Being restored by God isn’t about what He does for us; it’s more about what He does in us. Remember the line from the 23rd Psalm, “He restoreth my soul.”

We can be assured that God can bring good out of the worst circumstances. We can trust Him to heal the heartache, to mend the broken pieces, and to restore our ruined lives. He can make “something beautiful” out of any mess!

If there ever were dreams that were lofty and noble, they were my dreams at the start, And hope for life’s best were the hopes that I harbor down deep in my heart. But my dreams turned to ashes and my castles all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss, so I wrapped it all in the rags of life and laid it at the cross. Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion He understood. All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life. –Bill Gaither

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