“For if I [or anyone else should] rebuild [through word or by practice] what I once tore down [the belief that observing the Law is essential for salvation], I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law and its demands on me [because salvation is provided through the death and resurrection of Christ], so that I might [from now on] live to God. I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭2‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Hi everyone! I have some pretty exciting news. God had blessed me that I got a new job in Yokkaichi, Mie, Japan!

So I am currently in Japan right now. Been here for a few weeks, settling in and all. Everything is new or different. From my schedule (as shown by me posting on Monday twice now) to the food, to work, to the way I even buy things. It has been a lot of change and the words God put on my heart during all this change was: renew, restore, reconstruct.

Renew– to begin or take up again, as an acquaintance, a conversation, etc.; resume; to make effective for an additional period.

Restore– to put back to a former place, or to a former position, rank, etc.: to bring back into existence, use, or the like; reestablish.

Reconstruct– to construct (build or form by putting together parts; frame) or form again; rebuild.

These words could easily be synonymous for each other and I have to admit I did take them as such, at first. God pushed and urged me to look deeper. To not settle for a mere likeness but work to understand and know.

Many people can compare. It’s easy to compare even globally. This country is like this country. Maybe…but honestly, there’s nothing like being in a place and seeing the differences, and understanding them for yourself. I cannot settle for a synonymous relationship with the country, with its people, based off of what I know. I have to be willing to work and understand, just like the words.

Reconstruct

When you do that, well that’s the first step to reconstructing. When you are rebuilding something, the framework has to be looked at individually. Not comparatively. The framework is not the building, yet, but if you are looking at it like it is the building, well you miss the details of the foundation. You compare the foundation with other foundations, you may forget all about the building you were supposed to be building.

During this trip, I had to relook at things as they are. Not based off my experience or knowledge but as they are. A sewage cover can be where people just step and something that covers crap, but it also can be a place of art. I may not like chewy things, but hey, that one chance I might, just may be in a foreign country (when that chewy thing has been in the fridge all day).

Restore

Then comes restore. What does it mean to put something back? To put something in place? Well, one of the things I see here in Yokkaichi, is amidst the factories, there are farms, green pastures. And there are many gardens and parks to go enjoy here in Japan. Funny how, for most us, we seek a way to go back to nature, to the garden. Almost like we can’t get rid of the knowledge that God made Adam and Eve the garden of Eden. It was theirs. Not only that, but it is even stated in Psalms 23 that God will put us in green pastures.

Sometimes in life it is easy to feel blinded by the things around us. To get swept up in the moment and not see the beauty between or in the leaves. But a part of restoration is stopping. In Japan, they truly do like to take time to allow a moment to breathe. In one of the gardens there was even a part where you could sit and rest your feet on rocks. If you choose to. The main thing with restoration is that it is not done by force. Restoration is a relationship choice. From God’s loving choice to give and our choice to stop and to take the moment to accept what is offered in gratitude and humility. Or we can be distracted and talk to serpents in the garden. Serpents that take our rest. Our choices can lead to weariness and dry ground. Or our choices can take us to the planned rest, the restoration, God has for us.

Renew

Finally renew, which is something we say so often. We should know it. It is a simple word, right? Well at my job they teach using what I like to call the PB&J method. It basically means that you have to break something down to the simplest steps and start from there. One thing to note, something that you may have done or said a thousand times is not simple just because you have done it a thousand times. So looking at that, we can never be too sure what simple things are, even if it is a word like renew.

Renew. New again, right? Well not exactly. There is resume, to take up again, and to make effective for an additional period. Those are not just new again but there is something they all have. There’s a perseverance to renewal.

For example, the first plushie I bought here in Japan, was the Raichu. He was new but there was a hole in his tail so he was marked as damaged. He could have immediately been taken off the shelf or put in the back hidden away, but the shop persevered with selling him and I bought him. The moment I bought him, he was renewed. Now, he had a new purpose without his damaged label but he still had a small hole. My Raichu didn’t become a new Raichu, he just made it to where he found a new purpose and a new place.

Sometimes being renewed is not about going to God and asking to be new, but asking God how to persevere as He works in you. Like letting a praying mantis sit on your mailbox all day, sometimes we just have to let God be God. He does the renewing, we do the again part. We keep going. Keep doing what He says and you will find that when you look back, you aren’t where you were before. You’re renewed.

---

So those are my 3 Rs I’m relearning and living by through God. I hope and pray that you can live them too.