Restoration, Inc.

2/10/2016

Losing is only the beginning.

Last week, in association with Shane's name analysis, we talked a lot about her being a gift, and the gifts she had trouble receiving. It got me thinking about a simple truth: God likes to restore things that have been lost, and often does so by replacing it with something even better.

If you've seen the promo for From The Heart, you've probably heard Oliver specifically say in it, "I want to restore what was lost." This isn't surprising, given the fact he's been at the center of several key acts of restoration, all of which have to do with Shane. It seems God used Oliver to deliver restoration through the tangible gifts Shane receives, or has restored to her, throughout the series. Similarly, we are given a tangible look at how God likes to work in our lives, even when we least expect it.

The Necklace

"The Lord says, "I will give you back what you lost...." Joel 2:25 (NLT)

This scripture refers to a terrible locust plague devastating Israel and its crops. But Joel uses the opportunity to remind the people of Israel that there wasn't a moment of it that they weren't dealing with God.

I think the same can be said of Shane and her necklace. She associates the necklace with the happy family later torn apart by her father's departure at Christmastime. In a lot of ways, it's a tangible representation of the hurt that she carries around with her at all times.

Remember how Shane trades her necklace for the sheepskin? God often asks us to give up our hurt first so He can start healing us---start restoring that part of our heart lost by the hurt we experience in life. While the necklace traveled around the Denver metro area as a cabbie's trinket for a time, God, through Oliver, started healing the wounds of a broken family by reminding Shane of the new family with which He had permanently surround her. And only after Shane accepted this truth did the necklace miraculously resurface. Not only did Oliver deliver the truth to Shane, he restored the necklace to her as well. This time, however, the necklace was imbued with new significance. It was no longer a symbol of a broken past, it was a miracle and a gift of hope for the present and the future.

But the restoration didn't end there.

The Porch Swing & The House

"If you...know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good...?" Matthew 7:10 (NLT)

The one thing I love about Dad the most is His outpouring of love on His children---whether they ask for it or not!

It's clear that Shane's childhood, and things from it, are the closest thing to her heart. So when they start getting "restored" to her present, they seem to come back "better."

Remember that the first thing Oliver asks of the swing in From Paris With Love is if it's as good as the one Shane had in childhood. Her response? "It's better."

Another piece restored.

A similar conversation transpired on the grounds of her childhood home. She tells Oliver it was a pretty small house, to which he gleefully replies, "Oh, well---just make it bigger."

When God restores things back to His kids--- whatever they may be---He is in the habit of doing so in excess. Moreover, He gets an immense amount of pleasure in doing so.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the role he played on all three occasions, it appears Oliver gets an immense amount of pleasure in restoring things to people as well, a desire God seemed to use the circumstances with Shane to highlight for Oliver. Given his comments in the promo for From The Heart, I wouldn't be surprised to learn the restoration of others is part of Oliver's personal mission in 2016---particularly through the O'Toole Foundation!

Admit it---you've started looking back to see where God might have worked to restore something back to you, haven't you? I know I certainly have. Funny how things work together for Greater...

Looking To Restore, Too,
~C

6 Comments

2/10/2016 12:59:36 pm

After reading your post, I thought about the fact that the entire Christmas season was restored to Shane as well in For Christmas. She had become a self-proclaimed Scrooge, and the events surrounding the pageant and letter brought Christmas back to her in a way she hadn't experienced since a child.

The entire series for Shane has also been about a restoration of faith in God and His love for her...faith she obviously had in some way as a child given the letter she wrote, but dismissed as naive after the painful events with her father.

I think she has quite a way to go with this process, but the Shane we see encouraging Oliver in his faith in Truth Be Told has come so far from the cynical rule-breaker of the Pilot. She knows (at the very least) right now the value of faith for Oliver. I imagine throughout the 4 installments of 2016, that she will continue to see her own faith restored and grown.

Leora Kemp

2/10/2016 06:09:16 pm

Another awesome installment. My own favorite episode is SSD for Christmas. There are so many wonderful lessons there. Oliver takes what he learned from Jordan about Christmas and gives it to Shane. What she learned about her new "family" opens up so much for her present and future. The POstable family members give each other so much support in every way. I love watching it happen over and over.
In the pilot, Oscar tells Shane that he's a man of faith and he tells her she obviously has some faith as well because she has kept her father's card and must be hoping for forgiveness from him--that he obviously still loves her. I'm currently re-watching Truth be Told and Oliver's speech on redemption to Shane from the pilot is one she could have reminded him about as he rejects his own father's attempt at reconciliation. I just realized that Oliver's reverence for letters and letter writing is missing as he returns all the letters written to him by his father, then throws them in a trash barrel. (I learn something new every time I watch these episodes/movies!)
You were right, Chandel. as soon as I read this post I started looking at my own past and my Gifts from God, of which there are so many.

Marybeth link

2/11/2016 01:18:03 pm

This is yet another thoughtful, well-written blog post, Chandel, one that has made me think about restoration I’ve received in my own life from God. There’s no doubt He’s helped me tread through extremely painful periods in my life with hope and gifts restored in abundance. It amazes me how you’ve connected the biblical verses and their meaning to the significant events involving hurt and restoration in Shane. It’s also astounding to me that already in the preview of From the Heart we have Oliver speaking the words, “I want to restore what was lost.” Obviously Shane and Oliver are building a base for a committed relationship, and obviously restoration is a theme Martha Williamson is developing and continuing in these new films. If “restoring what was lost” is Shane’s special evening with Oliver, just the beginning of their shared journey, I’d say she is earning the gift of something “better” than she has ever had before in her relationship with him.

I also thought about how God is giving restoration to Oliver. You mentioned that he gets much pleasure from delivering restoration to others. I was thinking that, in part, it is these very opportunities that are restoring for him the abundant peace and stability he has deemed “essential” in his life. Not only did God provide Shane as a vehicle for Oliver to practice delivering hope (and in this case, to someone close to his heart), God also gifts Oliver with Shane as the one who leads him to confront his misconceptions about his father’s actions in the past. Because of her skill in dealing with his profound distress, Oliver was able to release the pain and earn a “better” relationship with his father. Boy, what a waste of 15 years, but the restored relationship will be worth it (and we have three films ahead in 2016 to watch the joyful healing take place)! Oliver has had his share of pain, some of it even self-induced through his stubbornness and yes, maybe even a little arrogance. Once he is stripped and deconstructed, however, as you’ve described so well in previous blog posts, the future he’s been longing for, including someone to share that future with, one that is “better” than he ever could have imagined, is looming just beyond the bend.

Finally, the brilliance of these important truths in Signed, Sealed, Delivered is that, while Christians can see what you’ve pointed out as the obvious connection between what we believe and read in the Bible, these timeless truths are evident even for non-believers. Let’s face it, not everyone who loves this series is a committed Christian, in fact, that’s pretty impossible to expect on a public network (even Hallmark), and I think Martha knows that. Yet in every installment, what do all viewers see? They see people of integrity who aren’t perfect, and struggle to find wholeness; they see the problem unresolved pain causes; they see that discovering truth sets a person free to grow and flourish; they see the power of forgiveness; they see the good things that result when we look deteriorating relationships square in the eye and take the courageous steps toward healing; they see that having faith in something bigger than oneself is a key to nurturing a healthy spirit. In short, in every episode they see models of how to be better human beings, which is why we POstables are so hooked; we, know that this TV show has a higher purpose than just entertaining us. Martha’s writing clearly makes Christians aware of the faith she imbues in every word, but she’s also nudging her audience, no matter where they stand with regard to faith in God, to see a world where being “honest and fair and excellent and kind” reaps the highest rewards.

Tamara

10/25/2016 11:07:03 pm

Well said!! I agree no matter if are a believer or not, you can learn something from these shows that are all about being good, honest, and just.

Leora Kemp

2/16/2016 10:22:41 pm

Marybeth, I love your comments. They add so much to the understanding of the series and the characters. Thanks.

5/29/2019 03:40:39 am

I love the way Oliver restores some of the past to Shane like in Home Again when he repeats her words back to her "I only dance with you". They have even greater meaning because when Shane said them to him in From The Heart they didn't have the impact on him or response from Oliver she was hoping for. She was trying to define their relationship but he wasn't ready or at the same place she was. In Home Again he was and I felt so glad for Shane. Oliver is simply not a "sweep you off your feet" kind of guy which is perhaps what Shane thought she wanted but more a "slow burn but you'll be glad you waited so long because it will be worth it" guy.

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