The Restorer at Work

Restorers of oil paintings sometimes experience the excitement of discovering that there is a second painting beneath the one they are attempting to restore. The original painting has been covered over and may have been out of sight for many years. Our lives can be a bit like that sometimes. The real you can be hidden under lots of masks. One person described their healing like this:

"I can compare myself to a table that has been covered with layer after layer of paint, over many years. The table looked good because the paint looked good. During my visit to Ellel Grange on a ‘Growing in Love’ course I realised that I needed to get rid of some of these layers. With a divine scalpel the work began and one of the layers was removed. It wasn’t too painful at first as I experienced the love of our heavenly Father through those ministering to me.

During the Healing Retreat several layers were taken away at once. It was frightening and painful since, suddenly, I was confronted with myself as a seven year old child who was forcefully separated from her loving parents to attend boarding school. This is where my life had changed by trying to be strong, pulling myself together and becoming a responsible person at a time when I was not ready for such a big step.

No wonder that all the layers of paint which followed just covered up and covered up. No wonder that I couldn’t always understand that God was supposed to love me, as I couldn’t believe that I was made in the likeness of God. As the Healing Retreat progressed, the ‘seven year old’ part of me was able to mourn what had been lost fifty years ago. What a wonderful God! Within hours, in His infinite love and kindness, He showed me that He’d created me in His likeness the day I was conceived. I’m so excited to learn to be me again - the me God has intended me to be. I leave this place different to when I came."

Are there any layers of paint in your life that need removing? Are there some unresolved issues from the past? As you allow the Master Restorer to work in your life, you too can become the person made in His image that He intended you to be.



Prayer: Thank you Lord that there is nothing in my past that is hidden from you. Help me to discover those things that need to be healed as I give you permission to love me as I am and then restore me to what you want me to be. In Jesus' name. Amen