Episode 12 - When God Begins to Rebuild

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Download Episode 12 Reflection Guide

Show Notes:

Summary

There is a strange place after the hard season shifts. You are not where you were, but you are not fully healed either. You may feel grateful, but tired. Hopeful, but still tender.

In this episode of Glory & Grit, Stephanie talks about what it looks like when God begins to rebuild after life does not go as planned. Rebuilding does not always begin with a dramatic breakthrough or a beautiful before-and-after moment. Sometimes it starts quietly — with one honest prayer, one small step, one healthy choice, or one surrendered piece placed back in God’s hands.

This episode is for the listener who is standing in the aftermath of something hard and wondering, “Lord, what now?” Together, we look at the slow, honest, holy work of rebuilding with God — and the hope that He has not left the story.

Key Topics

• The strange place after a hard season shifts

• How rebuilding often starts quietly

• What it means to participate with God instead of trying to control the process

• Practical next steps in a rebuilding season

• The hope found in Isaiah 61:4

Takeaways

• Rebuilding usually starts in the aftermath, not after everything already looks put together.

• Slow does not mean God is absent.

• God may not rebuild everything exactly the way it was.

• What we are asking God for may be restoration, but what He is doing may be transformation.

• Rebuilding with God requires participation, not control.

• If God is rebuilding, He is still present in the story.

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Transcript:

...Stephanie:

There's a strange place after the hard season shifts. You're not where you were, but you're not fully healed either. You're grateful, but tired. Hopefully, hopeful, hopeful, but still tender. And sometimes, friend.

That is exactly where God begins to rebuild.

Hi, friend. Welcome back to Gloria and Grid, where faith meets real life. If you're a newbie, I wish I had a cool name to give our listeners.

If you're a newbie, I wish I had a cool name to give our listeners. So let me know if you have some ideas. I welcome you to the podcast, Akwaaba. It might be helpful to check out the earlier episodes, which explains to you the heart of Gloria and Grit.

I'm your host Stephanie, and you know what? I'm really glad you're here. This week, we're talking about what it looks like when God begins to rebuild. Now, not when everything is fixed, not when everything has an answer, not when life suddenly feels easy again.

But that tender, sometimes confusing place where the hard season has shifted. And now you're standing there looking at all the pieces wondering, Lord, what now?

Because sometimes when we think healing or rebuilding should feel like a big breakthrough, we imagine that it's big and obvious and beautiful and easy to recognize. But often rebuilding starts quietly. It might look like praying again after you've been so tired that you just didn't.

It might look like taking one small step forward, even when you feel unsure. It might look like letting God touch an area of you that you were protecting, you were trying to protect. It might look like realizing that He might not be putting everything back the way it was. Because He's building something deeper.

And friend, that could be hard. But it can also be holy. So today I want to talk about rebuilding after life doesn't go as planned. The slow, the honest kind.

The slow kind, the kind where God meets us in the middle of our mess and begins to show us that he has not left the story. So take a deep breath and settle in.

So let's talk about what it means when God begins to rebuild. Sometimes the hard season shifts, but that doesn't mean that everything feels healed or settled.

The storm may be quieter, but there are a lot of pieces everywhere. It's like a Lego. When you put it together and you're done with it and you want to pack it away, it doesn't matter if you drop it on the floor or if you take the time to separate each brick. When you're done, there's still lots of pieces everywhere.

You might be grateful that things are not as bad as they were, but still tired. You might be functioning again, but not fully restored. You may feel like you should be better by now, but rebuilding has its own timeline. God has his own timeline.

Sometimes we think that once the hardest part is over, we should immediately feel better. But that's not always how it works. Sometimes the hard season shifts, but we're still studying in the aftermath of what changed.

For me, that could be like this podcast. I'm still stretch. It is still stretching me. But I'm also learning as I go. So that's cool. I've had past seasons where the...

thought what I would think, okay, now I'm moving forward. So it's going to be better. It's going to feel better. It's going to feel cleaner. It's not going to be a bunch of mess all over the place. But no, no, no. Rebuilding can be messy, emotional, and slow. And I think that that's one of the hardest.

And I think one of the first honest things we have to admit is this. Rebuilding usually starts in the aftermath, not after everything already looks put together. Yes? Yeah. God often begins rebuilding quietly and in small steps. We want this

Big breakthrough with a clear sign that we're through the mess and we're now rebuilding. We want this beautiful before and after. Kind of picture. But rebuilding might start with a prayer. One step.

One healthy choice, one obedient yes. A lot of the time rebuilding doesn't start with this dramatic moment. It starts quietly. It starts with getting up again. Some other examples.

praying when it feels awkward, forgiving slowly. We talked about that in earlier episodes. Setting boundaries. We talked about that last briefly last week. Resting instead of striving. Now, if you haven't looked up the word before,

Now, if you haven't looked that word up before for your own clarification, let me read it to you. Resting refers to a state of inactivity, repose or calmness where a person or thing stops moving or working to regain strength and recover. So in the words of my grandma,

Sit your tail down.

Other examples, going to counseling or asking for support.

doing the right next thing even when you still feel tender.

Mike Thumper, does not mean God is absent. Sometimes slow is where God is doing the deepest work on us, in us.

Sometimes we ask God to restore our old normal, but he's rebuilding something deeper. This is one of the hardest parts of rebuilding. We may want our old life with our old confidence and old rhythms and our old certainty back, but...

God is rebuilding faith, trust, identity, peace, priorities, and surrendering. And surrender. Restoration may not look like returning to what we were before. It might look like becoming more rooted in Him. Sometimes we're asking God for

Sometimes what we're asking God for, sometimes what we're asking God for is, Lord, please put it back the way it was.

One of the hardest parts of rebuilding is realizing that God may not be putting everything back exactly the way it was. And that can be painful because sometimes what we are asking for is restoration. But what God is doing is transformation.

My thumper right there.

God may not be rebuilding the same thing the same way because he may be building something steadier, deeper, and more surrendered than what was there before. And if God is rebuilding something deeper, and if God is rebuilding something deeper, then our part

is not to control every piece. Our part is to participate with Him. God does the deep work, but we still have that faithful next step. Participation is not striving. Participation is becoming involved in the activity. You're becoming engaged in it with Him.

It's not forcing and it's not pretending that we're okay. Rebuilding what God does, rebuilding with God doesn't mean that we grab the tools out of his hands and start taking control of the whole process. But it also doesn't mean that we refuse to move, to participate.

It means that we show up with surrender and ask, Lord, what's the next faithful step I can take?

And there are some practical mixed steps, know, praying honestly, rest without guilt. And we just talked about what that is, asking for help, setting boundaries and please.

Stop rehearsing the hurt.

What's one of my favorite quotes? Lego and legad. Return to the scriptures. There are many other practical examples of practical steps that we can take. Maybe the invitation this week isn't to rebuild everything. Maybe it's simply to place one piece back in his hands.

If God is rebuilding, He is still present in the story, right? I mean, He can't rebuild if He left. So yes, He is still in the story.

The rebuilding season might not look impressive. It might not feel fast. It ain't.

It may not be easy to explain to other people. They're not and have not walked in your shoes. They may have shared the same experience as you, but that doesn't mean that your rebuilding will be the same as theirs. So don't be surprised if they don't understand why yours looks different. Just remember that although they had the same experience, they didn't walk the same path.

Friend, if you are in a rebuilding season, I know it might not look like much yet. It might not feel strong yet. It might not even make sense yet. But small signs of life still matter. Quiet healing still matters.

and God is not finished with what he started. That part right there, hang on to that. This is why I love the picture we see in Isaiah. So as we close, I want to leave you with Isaiah.

Isaiah 61 4

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Friend, I love that this verse doesn't pretend that there were no ruins.

It tells the truth about what was devastated, but it also tells the truth about what God can do. He rebuilds. He restores. He renews. And maybe this week, the invitation is not to rebuild everything at once.

Maybe, maybe it's simply to ask, Lord, what is one piece I can put back in your hands?

If this episode met you in a rebuilding season, I hope that you'll take a few minutes with the reflection guide this week. If this episode met you in a rebuilding season, I hope that you will take a few minutes this week with the reflection guide. You can find it at GloriaandGritPodcast.com.

No spaces. The ampersand is spelled out. A-N-D-and. And if someone came to mind while you were listening, someone who's trying to rebuild after their life didn't go as planned, consider sharing this episode with them. Sometimes encouragement comes at just the right time.

Thank you for spending this time with me today. Until next time, keep looking for God's glory in the middle of the grid. Bye-bye now.