Restored: A Story of Healing, Faith, and New Beginnings

If you’re walking through loss, uncertainty, or waiting on restoration, this space is for you.

Sometimes starting at the beginning doesn’t make sense, you have to start in the middle—where life is messy, hearts are healing, God is quietly restoring what was lost. Writing was once an outlet for me, the thrill of creating something new drew me in. I wrote memories down in hopes I’d return to them one day and remember the moment as if it had just happened. Somewhere along the way, writing took a back seat in my life.

In December 2023 I was coming up on my first Christmas as a single mom. Recently divorced, I was reeling in memories and questioning my steps. That’s what we do when life hurts, blame ourselves. I knew God was with me every step guiding me, but I still felt alone. I had lost something, an identity. A part of my life was gone. I was no longer a wife. I had held that title since 2007 and in those years… I lost me. I was still a daughter, sister, friend, coworker and mom but I struggled with who I truly was.

A few years before that, I had begun praying yearly for a word to focus on in the new year. I don’t remember much of those past years but I knew going into 2024 my word was restore/restoration. I had no idea what that meant but I for sure had some thoughts on what I didn’t want it to be. (How funny we are making plans without God). I couldn’t fathom being married again – I know I said I was alone and that title was gone but I was hurt. So that word restoration for me – was getting back to who I was. Healing myself and healing my kids.

One random day I downloaded Hinge on whim and threw together a quick profile. Less than 12 hours later I was talking to Tim and we didn’t stop. That was on a Thursday, and by Friday night we were meeting. From the second I hugged him as I greeted him, I felt peace like never before. I knew the Holy Spirit was comforting me and saying This is him – the one you prayed for. I had never experienced anything like that in a relationship. We spent a lot of time together that weekend in person, texting, and phone calls. By the next week, we knew we were falling in love and that GOD was doing something amazing with us.

God was in every tiny detail of our lives. All we had to do was be open to his will. We would have conversations, and Tim’s responses would remind me of a past event in my life where I had been hurt—moments I had long forgotten.  But God was answering my prayers from all those years. He didn’t forget me. So in all those tiny moments --God winks as I sometimes say --He was restoring me back to myself. I don’t dwell on the why I was hurt any more, because the restoration made all of it worth it.

In this journey, I wanted to document all God has done for us. The idea for a blog all came from Him, so let’s see where this takes us – together.