“The original was splendid. But the miracle of restoration enhances the beauty. Knowing the drama of the whole story, one can only gaze in wonder.” – Quote from True Woman 101: Divine Design in reference to the restoration of the Madonna del Cardellino painting.

The painting was destroyed in an earthquake in 1548. Many tried to piece it back together, but with each attempt to hide the cracks, the painting lost its original luster…until a groups of experts took on the painstaking task of properly restoring it. It was long process, but the journey only made the reveal of the restoration even more grandiose.

Similarly, we have been destroyed by 1 or 2 (or even 10) earthquakes and we continue to try to patch ourselves up. We fool ourselves into believing that we can hide the cracks. We sometimes do a pretty good job, but if we have no clue of what we were originally intended to look like, how can we know what needs patching up? This is when the experts come in…well, in our case, just One Expert; The Original Artist.

Once we allow Him to begin the work of restoration, we struggle and hesitation sets in because…well, it just plain hurts. The pain and work required from us is more than we bargained for. We pray the “work” we have already done is good enough. But, again, we don’t know what the original masterpiece was to look like, so He has to start from scratch, often destroying all “work” we have done…:'( Ouch!

It may be painful and we may never even see the full restoration until we are reunited with The Artist, but isn’t it amazing that even though He isn’t finished, we can still gaze in wonder at His work in progress???

*With every great struggle, an even GREATER VICTORY is to follow!! *