He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:3

I love to read. At any given time I have 2-3 books on my nightstand and the topics range from inspirational, educational, self-improvement to the occasional Christian fiction.

I was relaxing one evening and started reading a Christian fiction novel. I was thoroughly enjoying the book and the down time from a busy week that I was totally unprepared for what I was about to read. 

The words on the page of that book seem to magnify.

I quickly sat upright on the sofa and had to read over and over the scripture that the author chose for that particular chapter. It was from Joel 2:25:

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm…

I had been dealing with a difficult situation for several years that I felt such a deep sense of loss. There were days that I thought the suffering would never end and other days I had faith that could move mountains.

But in that moment of reading a fiction novel, God chose to speak to me with His promise of restoration.

Needless to say, I had to put the book down and have a time of praise and prayer because God is so good!

God knew I needed encouragement and He knew exactly how and when to provide it. Would I have really soaked in this promise if I had heard it through a different means and at a different time?

I don’t know the answer but what I do know is God wants to encourage us and He’ll use different methods to get our attention.

He can speak to us through preaching, songs, scriptures, other people, a newspaper (it’s true!), non-fiction and yes, even through a fiction book.

And today, I look back at the last several years and I am so very thankful and grateful. Jesus brought restoration from all those years of loss just as He said He would.

And now those locusts and worms are a vague memory!