Inn of Cape May, NJ
RESTORATION
During an intercessory prayer meeting recently, the word “Restoration” came forth. The year was 1999, and I was co-pastoring Heart To Heart Church with my late husband in Summerville, SC at the time I wrote this. As I heard that word, I was reminded of a time in 1987 when the church I was attending had a women’s retreat in Cape May, New Jersey.
The Windsor Hotel Cape May, NJ
The brochures of this Victorian Inn we were to stay at looked so elegant and inviting!! Although it was not a usual thing for me to leave my husband (who was my best friend), he thought the pampering I would receive would be a blessing, and so I parted for the weekend knowing I was going to miss him, but looking forward to some of the amenities a grand hotel offered. We had been ministering it seemed almost non-stop and I so needed some one on one time with God to replenish! Our hearts soared with anticipation as my husband packed our suitcases in the car, I gave him one last hug and kiss goodbye,and we headed for the shore. My friend Sharon was with me and our main topic of conversation on the way to our destination, was how we were looking so forward to basking in the sun, resting, and being pampered at this magnificent resort hotel, and how much we both needed this getaway. We had visions of massages, pedicures and wonderful intimate time soaking in bubbles and in God's presence.
Chalfonte Hotel Cape May
The Chalfonte
Lovely bedroom at a Cape May Inn
Cape May Lighthouse
Caroll Villa
We so much wanted to shop till we dropped at the adorable downtown charming and uniques places, and to have afternoon tea and sample some of the wonderful restaurants. My feet longed to walk along the beach to be alone with God, pick up sea shells, drink in the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean and be rejuvenated in the salt water. However, our anticipation was soon dampened as we pulled in front of the place of our dreams! Have you ever heard the expression “the picture didn’t do it justice”? Well, that was an understatement! Oh my… what a ranshackled old place! It was literally falling apart, and we hadn’t even seen the inside yet!
Bathtime Shop at Cape May Village
Entrance Way to one of the Inns
Tea Shop
I want to go here next time in Cape May!
Bayberry Inn
Lovely Gingerbread Porch
Stunning Porch
Too Cute!
Eating outside at Lobsterhouse Restaurant.. great Place
Dining Inside Lobsterhouse Restaurant
Sailing
Victorian Porches
Antiquing
Don't you just love the old Victorian Architecture?
Uncle Bills Pancake House ... this is such a fun place for breakfast .. be sure to get a window booth seating overlooking the ocean, and try their blueberry pancakes~~ YUM!
Carriage Ride at Cape May
Beautiful Porch
Where were the horse and carriage with footman pictured on the front of the brochure, what had happened to the gorgeous entrance way? We began to look for a bellhop, but that was out of the question, there wasn’t one available. It was a blistering hot day and to our surprise, the air conditioning was totally outdated and barely worked. To make matters even worse, the antiquated brass open caged elevator was broken. So, we had to carry our heavy suitcases, filled to the brim with enough items for a month instead of a weekend, to the third floor! Our room had two small double beds, an antique fan, and the only light was a bulb hanging from the center of the room. And what was this? If you put a pencil in the middle of the room it would roll to one end… and oh, the HEAT! We were seriously considering getting a room at another hotel nearby.
To make matters worse, we were informed that there were so many extra women coming to the conference and not enough rooms, so we would now be doubling up in the beds. Instead of just Sharon and I in one room, there were to be 4 women. We were to be sleeping in a bed with someone we didn’t even know! Some vacation!!! The only thing that kept us in the hotel was the fact that I was leading one of the groups and it would be difficult going back and forth from one hotel to another if anyone needed ministry.
Now to begin with, you couldn’t have known two women who were less suited for this situation. Sharon is “Miss Femininity” personified, and I am what my husband calls “Princess in the Pea”! Two High Maintenance Gals ... How could we ever endure this weekend? What we had thought we had bargained for just wasn’t happening. To make matters worse, no matter where we went in the hotel, other women were verbalizing their own frustrations at the accommodations. The only one who didn’t seem to mind was our pastor’s wife who was apparently mature enough to endure hardships from having been on the mission field! Our disappointment was evident as we assembled for the first evening meeting.
How many times do we think “Oh, God wants the BEST for His children. Surely He would pick the most wonderful place for His girls, wouldn’t He?! Why was God allowing this? Didn't He know what great expense it was for some of these women to leave their families and to even pay for such a weekend? But our wise Father God had something up His sleeve!
That first evening meeting, God moved powerfully among us. It was enough to begin to quell many of our concerns and give us a new perspective. After the guest speaker finished, my friend Sharon, found herself standing up crying, repenting, and sharing that she had always been afraid that if she truly gave all of herself to God, He would require her to go minister somewhere with the Pigmy’s and she’d end up in a pot!! The tension had been so great that it was just what we needed to lighten up the atmosphere, and other women began to stand up and share what God was doing in their lives that night. I found myself not only praising God for what He was doing in my friend, but for her openness that enabled us all to relax and begin to unravel. I was even able to jide her by saying we would have to go to a Safari store and somehow find satin pj's for here trip!! LOL! Women were crying, and laughing as God began healing them one by one.
Satin Leopard Pajamas for my friend's trip to Pygmy Land!
What a night to remember. God continued to heal as we met in small groups several times a day and at the meetings during the evening, but what was becoming evident to me was that God was using the natural to show us the state we were in, in the spirit. He wanted us to know that we may have come in looking like this old resort that no one would want to inhabit, but He was going to do a real “MAKEOVER” on our old houses!!! Someone had brought a book along called My Broken Shells by Carol Hamblet Adams..and I had one of those "Aaaaa HA" moments when I began to see a tapestry pattern emerge of what God was trying to speak to his daughters on this particular weekend... we were like the broken shells in her book, ALL beautiful to Him in spite of our weaknesses and broken pieces .. He wanted to "KISS" us to wholeness!
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| Beautiful Broken Shells |
We had all come to this conference in some state of disrepair, and God was rebuilding us from the inside out. Oh, the beauty and splendor we could envision of how this Resort must have been in its heyday, and could be again with vision and some hard work. God wanted to restore us too, and He was using the decay, and shambles that we could see with our natural eyes in this old hotel, to show us the work He was doing in the spirit realm in each one of our lives. It is interesting to note that another word for “Restoration” is, “Atonement” … AT-ONE-MENT with God… God was wanting to make us whole and ONE with Him!
Some of the women came with poor foundations.. some had built walls of their own making to protect themselves from hurts. Some of us felt like we had even lost our minds and our elevators didn’t go to the top, just like the one at the hotel! There were those who had either lost, or allowed the storms of live to part them from their covering and their shingles had blown off (so to speak)! There were those in darkness or partial darkness( poor lighting) , where they wouldn’t allow God to turn on the light because of shame or fears. With some of us, our plumbing wasn't working and we were bottled up and living waters were not flowing out of us, or they were just a trickle out of the faucet of our hearts. Many had faulty electricity because they had not plugged into the real power source... JESUS!
God’s temples, falling apart, in need of repair, ….and the Master Craftsman was going to reconstruct us. Refurbishing was needed on the outside, remodeling on the inside, a time consuming task to say the least. But, we began to realize that our Heavenly Father takes delight in the work, for He has the BLUEPRINT for our lives and sees with eyes of love… the finished temple. Thank heavens when God works on us He doesn’t just patch us up, He totally recreates us (He makes all things NEW!). He brings us to RESTORATION with Him by totally recreating us!!
So, to get back to our intercessory prayer meeting: as the word “Restoration” came forth, my mind was flooded with the above mentioned memories of my weekend encounter with Jesus and all He had done in my own life personally that weekend. As the word “Restoration” came forth again.. God showed me an open vision and began to speak.
He said: “The word “REST” is in the word “REST-ORATION”. Our beloved Father is Restoring us not only so that we can be at peace and rest, but so that we will be a place for HIM to rest, and dwell. He then began to show me in picture-form what He was doing in His beloved, the believers, His bride. He began to show me how the things we were seeing either broken down or in disrepair in this old hotel related to where we were. He is restoring the foundations, bringing us back to basics and our first love.. His presence, the word, the cross, the blood, the passion, and, oh those foundations He is setting for us are so beautiful!!
Isa 54:11 -14KJV O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
He is replacing the studs that are ruined and bent with His plumbline, which is His word that makes all the crooked ways straight. He is replacing the windows .. “our eyes are the window of the soul”.. he is removing the dullness by placing salve upon our dim eyes, and removing all the smudges and debris.. the scales of deception, so we can see His truth. He has come to turn the lights on in our hearts, and to rotor rooter and unclog the plumbing, flushing out all unnecessary waste. He supplies us with fresh, living water to fill our every need, with an overflow of His presence that overflows onto others. I was reminded that He uses "burnt" stones in His building process.. WOW! what a word picture.. how many beleivers have been burnt in life and feel like they are nothing but charred remains? He is our insulation from the elements.. the offenses, the cold, hard circumstances that bruise our spirits… and the lies we are told by the enemy or others or even the ones we tell ourselves. Many of us have been living for years with our own self-made exteriors, those masks we wear to cover and barricade the interior (our hearts). He puts up a new exterior, His shield of Faith to cover and protect us. Those things that have been torn down by words, or relationships, or circumstances etc.. Father God wants to transform. He has come to rebuild the ruins from the ground up.
Isaiah 58:12 NIV Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
One of the women in the prayer group reminded us that when Solomon was having the temple built, they were not allowed to use hammers. I am so glad God does not hammer us and pound us.. He speaks tenderly to His beloved!
1 Ki 6:7 KJV And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
Oh, Lord, how many of us use hammers when we try to build either others or ourselves? How many times do we try to control and hammer our beliefs into others, instead of being patient and moving and speaking truth in love?
Remember also, only those who had a “heart and mind to build and to work” could be used to help in the process during Nehemiah’s time.
Neh 4:6 KJV So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
Our hearts and minds must be to work in the harvest field, and then to build up and encourage. Only in this way can the process be one that is lasting. Love, and love alone must motivate us. It must be in our hearts and in our minds to work, to build up, and not tear down, or the process will be incomplete.
And so Lord Jesus, we say our sin and the storms of life have left our houses battered, worn and desolate… come and rebuild us. You, Lord Jesus are our remodeler; you have the MASTER PLAN for our lives. We ask you to mold us into what you desire for your good pleasure. We want to be fit for You to dwell in us. Come bring RESTORATION, find your RESTING place in us, and bring us to a place of peace and REST in YOU.
Word given to: Pastor Donna
Heart To Heart Ministries 9/2/99
Mwd/restoration
donnatrex@yahoo.com
