“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” Psalms 23:3 TLV

“Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and ‘you will find rest for your souls.’ For my yoke is easy and burden is light” Matthew 11:28-30 TLV

“The torah of Adonai is perfect, restoring the soul” Psalms 19:8 TLV.

“The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul” Psalms 19:7 NLT.

“To You, Adonai, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust…Guide me in your truth, and teach me” Psalms 25:1-4 TLV.

“Adonai my God, I cried to you for help, and You healed me. Adonia, You brought my soul up from Sheol. You kept me alive, so I would not go down to the pit” Psalms 30:3-4 TLV

“Adonai redeems the soul of His servants” Psalms 34:23 TLV.

“I said, ‘Adonai, have mercy on me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You” Psalms 41:5 TLV.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” Psalms 42:1-2 TLV.

“Why are you downcast, O my soul?…Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, for the salvation of His presence. My God, my soul is downcast within me! Therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan and from the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mitzar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls. All your waves and beakers have swept over me. By day Adonai commands His love, and at night His song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life…” Psalms 42:6-9 TLV.

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Have you ever felt like David in the Psalms? He faced this Dark Night of the Soul many times. Yet, in the darkest of times there was this deep call to rely deeply on the Beloved one, Jesus. We come to these breaking points at times from life’s circumstances or the darkness around us, where our soul needs the oil of His presence to bring healing and restoration life. We press into His love in these dark places and let His love sweep over us and carry us deeper into the depths of His heart. It’s in these times we truly understand His oil of joy. His joy becomes our strength. Only He can take all the pieces of our souls and restore them to life. Only He can shine His light in and bring life to the dry and dead places.

I have a playlist on my Spotify called Healing Heart Massage of songs that just make me rest in my Beloved One, in His strength. He longs to restore our souls. Massaging the Heart’s purpose in the medical field is to get the heart to beat again, to restore the blood flow, and circulation. This technique is used when the heart stops beating. Sometimes we hit these times in our lives where it feels like we were punched so hard with an attack that it knocks the breath and life out of us for a moment. The enemy of our souls wants us to lose our hope and not fix our eyes on Jesus. He wants us to focus on the darkness and chaos around us. The enemy comes into our lives to steal from us, kill, and destroy. However, God is so much greater than these things. “The light shone in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it!” John 1:5. Despite anything we face in life, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ Jesus who loved us, and nothing can separate us from Him, from His love (Romans 8:35-39).

We need to know who we are as children of the Most High God. We are adopted into the family of God and led by the Spirit of God. We are sons and daughters fully accepted into His family, fully loved, and fully clothed in His garments of salvation and robes of righteousness. He covers us and we are not orphans. He is our beloved Father (Romans 8:14-17). God is a “father to the fatherless, defender of widows- that is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy” Psalms 68:5-6, NLT. God’s heart is to bring His abundant life and bring restoration (John 10:10). “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” John 1:4 NKJV. Jesus came to bring life. Where the enemy tries to bring death, he revives us with His life from the rivers of living water flowing from the throne room of God.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Psalms 147:3 TLV. He longs to bring His streams of living water into the chambers of our hearts to bring healing and life! Into every area, the enemy has come to steal and kill and destroy He longs to release His abundant life. This life brings healing even to the depths of our souls and being if we dare to open our hearts fully to Him, into every crevice and dark place in our hearts. He even can come into the painful memories and places to bring healing and restore our soul. God’s Spirit brings beauty from ashes. His praise rises up in our inner beings and breaks off heaviness. He pours over us His oil of joy replaces our mourning with the strength and beauty of His presence. We find our strength in Him. “How enriched our they who find their strength in the Lord; within their hearts are the highways of holiness! Even when their paths wind through the dark valley of tears, they dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain. He gives to them a brook of blessing filled with the rain of outpouring. They grow stronger and stronger with every step forward” Psalms 84:5-7 TPT. Every area where the enemy has tried to destroy and ravage our lives, families, and own soul the Lord wants to redeem and restore for His glory. He will not only restore us; but raise us up and plant us like mighty oaks of righteousness! He will use us to rebuild and restore the desolate inheritances to revive them through His Spirit. This picture all comes from Isaiah 61. We will be called priests of the Lord, His lovers near to His heart. We will be rooted in Him and not shaken. Instead of shame, God will release His favor and a double portion of honor.

I am telling you beloved, His heart is to restore our souls. This means, “returning something- especially a person’s inner being- to its proper place or condition.” I want to love God with all of my heart, mind, and soul (Matthew 22:37). In order to do this, I want to invite the Holy Spirit into the depths of my being to bring restoration and healing into my soul. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit on this journey. I am writing to encourage you all.

His heart is to restore you, His beloved child. He will renew your strength. Isaiah 40:31 reads, “they who wait for Adonai will renew their strength. They will soar up with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.” The word “wait” in Hebrew is the word qavah (קָוָה) which in its primitive root means to bind together. This like intertwining the strands of a rope or cord. When we are tired or weary, this is an invitation to rest in the Lord. We are intertwined with Him. We are one. From this place of oneness, we are infused with His Strength through the Spirit of God. His DNA pulses through us, through this union. We are joined with Him. He says, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and ‘you will find rest for your souls‘” (Matthew 11:28-29). “The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him” 1 Corinthians 6:17 TLV. In choosing to surrender all to Him, we choose to yoke our life in covenant to His life. This is the picture of marriage- the two becoming one (Ephesians 5:31). The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us and releases His life into our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). We are being conformed into His likeness, chosen, and called by Him into His love, into union (Romans 8:29-39).

Take courage. Do not be afraid, hope in Him. I have seen this in my own life. He longs to come into the depths of your heart and bring His healing balm. The pain no one knows about, the tears no one has seen, God sees them. He sees you and longs to wrap His strong arms of love around you and embrace you. He will pick you up and remind you who you are. You are His daughter. You are His son. Do not be Afraid. Let His love remove all fear. “How precious is Your love, O God! The children of men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings. The drink their fill from the abundance of Your House. You give them drink from the river of your delights. For with You is the fountain of life- in Your light we see light” Psalms 36:8-10 TLV. “The resting place of his love will become the source and root of your life” Ephesians 3:17.