Dr. Mark Shannan: "Restoration"
In the beginning... God had an Original Design for everything. According to the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). There is a God who had, and who still has, a plan for everyone and everything in the universe.
God’s not dumb. He is supreme intelligence. Everything in our world works together in amazing ways; it’s hard to deny that it was designed to work that way. The human body that He designed isn’t dumb, either. It’s extremely intelligent and is designed to work in a beautifully harmonious way, such that we have abundant life and unbelievable capabilities to thrive, to create, to help, and to heal.
Everything in the universe has a purpose and fits together beautifully in a symphony of movement and harmony when allowed to work in the way that it was originally designed. Humans, though, have changed so many things from the way they began that we have severely altered the way things are designed to work, and the results have had devastating consequences.The good news is that nearly everything we’ve altered or damaged to problematic extents can be restored back to what it was originally designed to be. Built into most of all designed things is the capacity for restoration. That’s also part of the Original Design...it all is.The body was designed to be much more durable and capable of adapting to less-than-ideal circumstances, and it’s amazingly capable of actually healing itself. What have humans created that can live, breathe, and heal itself? We’re good, but we aren’t nearly as good as God.Most all things can change, and much of what we’ve damaged is not ruined but is simply not in the state that it was designed to be. Over time, it can be turned in the direction of or even restored back to its Original Design. All of our cells, our organs, our bodies, our relationships, our emotional “hearts,” and many things on our planet even, have been designed to be remarkably resilient and have the ability to slowly (and occasionally quickly) be restored. It’s amazing!
That always blows me away! It’s such great news. It’s like waking up from a nightmare and realizing that, in reality, everything is not the disaster that you were anticipating and that it’s all going to be okay. Whew! What a relief!Pretty much all of you gardeners can attest to the transformation of a neglected, bone-dry plant that appeared to be totally dead. Most people will just throw them away, but occasionally you take a liking to a particular plant and decide to revive it. So you cut the plant back to its base, repot it in good soil, water it regularly, and give it the kind of sunlight and fresh air that it needs. It doesn’t come back overnight, but after a period of time (a different amount for different plants), it slowly begins to show signs of life.First, there may be only a little green note to the coloring of the plant, and then with time, the roots heal, grow, and then you get a tiny shoot of growth. With more time, a leaf forms, then two, and then a hundred! Suddenly it’s coming back to life—a far cry from where it was, all sad, pitiful looking, and worthless. Eventually, it begins to look like it did before it was neglected, and perhaps it may even look better—yes better—than it did when you first got it. And then, the miracle of miracles...the plant begins to flower and even bear fruit! What once was considered trash and was about to be discarded, is now vibrantly healthy, beautiful, life-giving, and valuable.This story could practically be about anything in your life that needs work. This is such an exciting aspect of how Original Design works. Take what’s been damaged in any area of your life, get refocused on doing what was originally designed to be done, and watch the “magic” of restoration take place! It’s so beautiful. You may be experiencing some significant health challenges and feeling sad, pitiful and worthless, yourself. But if you’re rooted in the Original Design, you can bounce back.
After reading that analogy of the plant, some of you may be thinking about your physical health issues. Some of you may be thinking about a relationship in trouble; while others of you may be thinking about previous damage to your spiritual health.However it affected you, the core idea is still the same. ere are steps you can take to change a situation involving nearly any area of your health. A real transformation can take place that restores your health completely back to or really close to its Original Design.I want you to say this to yourself right now: “I can change. This isn’t who I was designed to be and it’s not how I was designed to live. I’m done accepting mediocrity. I was made for more than this! I must and I will regain my Original Design! Change starts now. I will be healthy!” You can’t rewrite the beginning of your story, but you can change the ending.
