Make somthing new..again!

Today's challenge was to draw how I would restore the dull gray house...while thinking about the word restore.  The theme of the September issue of Credo is "restore."  Restoring something is all about making something new again.  As I thought about restoring the above picture, I couldn't help but think about giving the picture some color.  The picture began gray and dull, but adding the color gave it life, newness and freshness.  The freshly colored picture even picked up more light. 

Two scriptures came to mind as I thought about this challenge:

•  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (NIV)

• Matthew 5:14  "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."  (The Message)

It is so amazing to me that the Lord Jesus Christ makes us a new creation.  As a new creation we are light that brings out all the God-colors in the world.  It's like God takes the dull, gray picture destroyed by sin and paints beauty back into our lives.  Beauty like love, joy, peace, patience, grace...etc.  Then Jesus empowers us to be a part of his work in the world.  We get to splash on new color where things have faded and become dull.  That's incredible!  Wow!

Here are the answers to the rest of today's challenge questions:

When you hear the word RESTORE, what words come to mind?  paint, new, fresh, hopeful, whole, come together

Find TWO definitions online for RESTORE and write them here: 
"to bring back into existence or use" -dictionary.com ---- "to give something that has been lost, taken, or stolen back to the person it belongs to" -MacMillan Dictionary (online)

Write your own definition for RESTORE: "to renew something that was formally in a state of brokenness or disrepair"

Till Tomorrow...Tom