March 15, 2025 • 16 mins
The episode explores the theme of restoration through faith and humility, emphasizing how God can mend broken lives and hearts. It discusses personal loss and the power of surrendering to God's process for healing.
- Discusses the promise of restoration in Joel 2:25
- Explores the steps of humility, surrender, and patience
- Shares a personal story of loss and grief
- Examines the challenges of coping with tragedy
- Explores the cost of pride and its impact on life
- Highlights restoration’s transformative power in the story of Job
- Encourages listeners to seek God's help in their own restoration
- Weekly Challenge: Ask Dad for a New One
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Low Life Show, a space where we have
conversations about thestruggles of life, where we
declare war on pride and walkhumbly into renewed living with
a surrendered heart.
Where we take our past failuresand turn them into a roadmap
for you to live in peace andliving the low life.
Whether you're working throughpersonal struggles or simply
(00:22):
seeking a fresh perspective,this podcast will inspire and
equip you to live low and letGod lift you up.
I'm your host, dl, the Low Life, a reformed professional
dirtbag who's here to tell youthat I now live a life of peace,
transformed through humility.
Join me, let's get low.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
What's good, welcome back to the Low Life Show.
I am DL, the Low Life, andtoday we're talking about one of
the most beautiful things Goddoes Putting the pieces back
together Restoration.
And when God does it, it'salways better than it was before
.
It's like that old principle ofleaving a person or a place
better than when you found them.
(01:37):
That's God.
He does it all the time.
If pride has torn down somethings in your life
relationships, opportunities,even your faith don't lose hope.
God is in the business ofrebuilding and when he restores
it's an upgrade every time.
He's always waiting for us toturn to Him so he can do His
thing.
But here's the catchRestoration starts with humility
(02:00):
.
You have to get low and let Himwork.
Let's talk about what thatlooks like and how to invite God
into the broken pieces of yourlife.
We begin today's episode in thescripture.
(02:22):
We begin today's episode in thescripture Joel 2, 25.
And I will restore to you theyears that the locust hath eaten
the canker worm and thecaterpillar and the palmer worm,
my great army, which I sentamong you.
This blows my mind.
Here God is saying that he'sgoing to restore.
(02:42):
So restoration, that means he'sgoing to give it back.
You're going to give back whatwas lost.
God is telling his people Iwill restore the years the
locusts have eaten, that he willrestore what's been taken away.
He's bringing sexy back.
That's not just poetic language, that's a promise, a guarantee.
No matter how much you've lost,no matter how much pride or sin
(03:05):
has taken from you, god can andwill restore it.
But you have to go to Him, youhave to run back to Him, and
it's a process.
It all starts with getting low,being humble, humbling yourself
.
So the first step would beadmitting that you can't fix it
on your own.
Going to God and sayingadmitting that you can't fix it
(03:27):
on your own.
Going to God and saying, god, Ineed you.
I acknowledge the fact that Iam nothing without you and when
I am without you, I'm less thannothing.
I need you Help me.
The second part, after that issurrender.
You have to let go of yourplans and trust his process.
Restoration might not look howyou expect.
You got to forget about allyour ambitions, all of them.
The car you want, the house,the job, all those things have
(03:51):
to be cast aside for his plansand his help.
You can't say, god, I need yourhelp, but it has to look this
way.
Or I want it to be like this,or I need it to smell like that,
doesn't matter.
None of that matters.
Your preferences have to be outthe way.
It has to be complete surrender.
None of you for a little bit ofhelp from him and the final
(04:15):
thing will be the waiting, thepatience.
Remember his timing.
It's not our timing, but hisplan is always worth the wait.
Instant gratification is ahuman pride thing.
We want it now so we can bragon it.
We want to be able to flex.
It'll make us feel good on theinside if we get it immediately,
so we can comfort ourselves, sowe can relax.
(04:35):
Just wait on him and you'llfind the true rest that is
necessary for life to startlifing again.
Now let me take you back to thebeginning of loss so I can show
you the power of God'srestoration.
Walk with me.
(05:04):
It was 2016.
I was in bed with a girl I hadjust met, picked her up at the
(05:24):
casino last night on a bet.
My buddy was watching her.
He told me she was looking atme.
I told him I didn't mess withAsians.
He shook his head and he sworeshe was on me.
So I remember saying if she'shere, when I get back from the
bathroom, I'll show yousomething.
The last thing that I rememberwas smoking a cigarette with
this girl and telling her herlife had just changed for the
(05:47):
better by meeting me Apparently.
That's what it took.
I thought it was silly, but Iwoke up the next morning and
there she was.
Everything else in betweenthere was a blur Didn't even
know that.
I drove home.
This was how I coped lately,finalizing my divorce.
Not seeing my kids.
I would get numb and incoherent.
(06:08):
I'd black out and wake up withway more questions than I had
answers.
This morning, though, it was alot different than all the rest.
I woke up to my phone ringing.
I looked at the time andimmediately I got sick.
It was 5 am and it was mybrother.
He never called this early.
Something had to be wrong.
When I answered the phone, mywhole world was turned upside
(06:32):
down.
Have you ever gotten one ofthose calls, one that just took
the fabric of your life andunraveled it all in one sentence
?
This was that call.
The sentence was devastatingMom and dad got hit by a car.
Have you ever just gone blank?
No words, but a millionthoughts.
I began to sweat.
I started to cry.
(06:52):
I was ready for revenge onwhatever happened All at once.
I would later find out that myparents were walking their dogs,
as they usually did in themorning, as they were crossing
the street in the crosswalk,they were hit by a truck going
about 45 miles an hour.
About 36 hours later, my momwas gone.
I can still hear the beeping ofthe machine and the sound of it
(07:15):
going flat.
My dad was broken in every way.
His wife of 40 years was nolonger there.
This is the kind of heartbreaknobody should experience
Children losing their mother,men losing their wives.
It's not like she was old oranything.
This was a tragedy and it's notsomething that you want to deal
with alone.
Thankfully, my dad had mysister, my godmother and a
(07:40):
carousel of family in and out oftown constantly checking up on
him, wanting to take care andhelp.
My brothers had their wives orgirlfriends and their kids.
They had someone to navigatethrough tragedy and grief with.
For me, I tried to be there whenI could because I did care
about my family.
So when I was coherent, when Ihad a inkling to be
(08:05):
understanding, I would be thereand I would understand.
But then I would go home andwhen the noise died down and I
had nothing left to give, I'd bethere alone in an empty house,
full of grief, with no shoulderto cry on, nobody to talk
through the pain with, desperateto have that, and nobody came.
(08:25):
There are a million ways toreact and respond to this Failed
marriage, lost kids, lost mom.
After a lifetime of pride andarrogance and never having
experienced grief before whileyou're alone.
For me it was an easy choice tomake in response, endless days
and nights full of alcohol,pills, drugs of every kind.
If it helped me to not feel, ifit helped numb the pain, maybe
(08:49):
if it helped me not think to domindless things.
It was awesome, yes, please.
Itless things, it was awesome,yes, please.
It wasn't long before I foundmyself living to die, washing
down bottles of pills with tallcans of 211, driving reckless,
just doing the most and in theworst ways.
Obviously, one poor choiceafter another doesn't lead to
victory.
I'm here alive and kickingtoday, so my story didn't end
(09:11):
there.
That was only the beginning,though.
I would go on to lose the house, I had, the cars and even the
near six figure salary job I had.
I worked an average of fourhours a day on my butt and
barely did anything, and I madethat kind of money.
Why I didn't make an effort tokeep that, only pride can answer
.
The point is there was a lot ofloss in my life that came as a
(09:31):
result of the locust in my lifecalled pride All those things
that the world uses as a measureof success.
Gone Along with people I calledmy pillars, my biggest
advocates and my kids.
Pride in my heart, pride inmyself, pride in my life, had me
telling God that I don't seehim as God.
He was not in view.
(09:51):
Instead, I was God.
He didn't let that slide and hewon't for anybody else.
Be sure of it.
So be prepared to actaccordingly.
I sit here today now without anyof those earthly treasures,
still don't have the house, thecar, still have not seen my kids
.
Instead, I have peace, a peacethat doesn't make sense, or I
(10:12):
should be stressing I'm lovedand I know how to love.
I didn't used to, Not at all,not since I was a kid.
So, with none of the earthlythings I possessed being
restored, I see nothing otherthan the fact that God knows
what's best when it comes to God, I'll never understand, and he
will always show me somethingnew.
He rarely does things the way Iexpect.
(10:34):
What he gave me back, though,the repayment I received, the
restoration from what the locusttook it's worth it.
As I look at my life now andthe peace I have, I see that the
restoration God has begun in meis a restoration of the life I
was about to lead before pridegot me.
I guess that's why I findmyself enthusiastic like a child
(10:55):
again, why my faith feels pureand innocent.
He gave me back the me thatexisted right before pride crept
in and took control of my life,the innocence that began to
fade after that first time.
I got jumped on the playgroundas a kid.
I'll tell you about thatanother time.
Fact is God does restore what'slost his way on his clock, and
(11:16):
it's likely going to be whatmatters.
He's restored so much on theinside.
I could truly care less.
If he restored the materialthings, I wouldn't mind, but I
am more than content with whathe's given back to me, thank you
(11:52):
.
Another story we can look towhen it comes to restoration is
the story of Job.
See Job.
His story is often brought upas a testament to faith, faith
during storms.
The restoration, though, itcame at the end, through the
(12:14):
storms.
At the end of the storms, see,job lost everything.
He was a wealthy man, thewealthiest man in the land.
So he goes on to say the Lordallows Satan to do basically
everything but kill him.
But test his faith In thattesting.
Job lost his kids, he lost Hishome, all his servants, his
(12:36):
livestock, everything, and ontop of that he was covered with
sores.
Anyways, at the end of thetesting of his faith, god
restored everything to himtwofold.
He gave him a double up.
That is the God that we serve.
So if you're going through astorm today, if you feel like
you're losing all things, maybeit's just the right opportunity
(12:59):
for you to get low and kneel andpray and worship, and in that
gesture you'll be standing tall.
Where do you need God'srestoration?
(13:24):
Maybe it's in your marriage,your career or in your walk with
Him.
Consider it, write it down,pray about it, make room and
trust that he's going to work.
And then let's pause one timefor our weekly challenge this
week.
Ask for God's help in all thethings.
Ask him to show you what hewants to restore in your life,
(13:49):
write down what he reveals andthen commit to praying over that
area of your life every day.
Pray with an expectation thathe's going to do it His way on
His clock and it's going toalign with His will, and pray
with a heart that trustscompletely.
If you need help committing,invite a friend or a loved one,
(14:10):
someone you trust, to help keepyou accountable.
They don't even have to knowwhat the details are, just ask
them to remind you to daily pray.
Remember God's in the businessof restoration.
He wants to restore things.
He wants to make things new.
He wants to give you the lifeof abundance and prosperity that
you have always longed for.
(14:30):
It just may not look the waythat you want it to look, so
lower your opinion of self,lower and humble yourself in
your preference and when you'reasking God for something, just
expect it to be better than whatyou thought.
If it looks like what youwanted, then you had your eyes
aligned with his.
(14:50):
Next week we're going to talkabout servanthood, how living
low means lifting others up.
Servanthood, how living lowmeans lifting others up, just
like Jesus did.
Now let's pray, father.
We thank you that you are theGod that makes all things and
you make all things new.
We thank you that the thief maycome to steal, but you come to
(15:11):
restore, you give us life andyou want to make it better.
We thank you.
We ask this week that you wouldreveal to each and every one of
us where you want to do thework in our lives and give us
the strength to be weak, to behumble and to give you room to
(15:32):
do what you need to do.
Bless the listener and helpthem to grow closer and closer
to you every day this week.
We love you, we praise you.
We give you all the honor andglory in Jesus name.
Amen.
Until next time, stay low, stayblessed and stay ready for the
next episode of the Low LifeShow, peace.
(15:55):
Outro Music.
Welcome to the Low Life Show, a space where we have
conversations about thestruggles of life, where we
declare war on pride and walkhumbly into renewed living with
a surrendered heart.
Where we take our past failuresand turn them into a roadmap
for you to live in peace andliving the low life.
Whether you're working throughpersonal struggles or simply
(00:22):
seeking a fresh perspective,this podcast will inspire and
equip you to live low and letGod lift you up.
I'm your host, dl, the Low Life, a reformed professional
dirtbag who's here to tell youthat I now live a life of peace,
transformed through humility.
Join me, let's get low.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
What's good, welcome back to the Low Life Show.
I am DL, the Low Life, andtoday we're talking about one of
the most beautiful things Goddoes Putting the pieces back
together Restoration.
And when God does it, it'salways better than it was before
.
It's like that old principle ofleaving a person or a place
better than when you found them.
(01:37):
That's God.
He does it all the time.
If pride has torn down somethings in your life
relationships, opportunities,even your faith don't lose hope.
God is in the business ofrebuilding and when he restores
it's an upgrade every time.
He's always waiting for us toturn to Him so he can do His
thing.
But here's the catchRestoration starts with humility
(02:00):
.
You have to get low and let Himwork.
Let's talk about what thatlooks like and how to invite God
into the broken pieces of yourlife.
We begin today's episode in thescripture.
(02:22):
We begin today's episode in thescripture Joel 2, 25.
And I will restore to you theyears that the locust hath eaten
the canker worm and thecaterpillar and the palmer worm,
my great army, which I sentamong you.
This blows my mind.
Here God is saying that he'sgoing to restore.
(02:42):
So restoration, that means he'sgoing to give it back.
You're going to give back whatwas lost.
God is telling his people Iwill restore the years the
locusts have eaten, that he willrestore what's been taken away.
He's bringing sexy back.
That's not just poetic language, that's a promise, a guarantee.
No matter how much you've lost,no matter how much pride or sin
(03:05):
has taken from you, god can andwill restore it.
But you have to go to Him, youhave to run back to Him, and
it's a process.
It all starts with getting low,being humble, humbling yourself
.
So the first step would beadmitting that you can't fix it
on your own.
Going to God and sayingadmitting that you can't fix it
(03:27):
on your own.
Going to God and saying, god, Ineed you.
I acknowledge the fact that Iam nothing without you and when
I am without you, I'm less thannothing.
I need you Help me.
The second part, after that issurrender.
You have to let go of yourplans and trust his process.
Restoration might not look howyou expect.
You got to forget about allyour ambitions, all of them.
The car you want, the house,the job, all those things have
(03:51):
to be cast aside for his plansand his help.
You can't say, god, I need yourhelp, but it has to look this
way.
Or I want it to be like this,or I need it to smell like that,
doesn't matter.
None of that matters.
Your preferences have to be outthe way.
It has to be complete surrender.
None of you for a little bit ofhelp from him and the final
(04:15):
thing will be the waiting, thepatience.
Remember his timing.
It's not our timing, but hisplan is always worth the wait.
Instant gratification is ahuman pride thing.
We want it now so we can bragon it.
We want to be able to flex.
It'll make us feel good on theinside if we get it immediately,
so we can comfort ourselves, sowe can relax.
(04:35):
Just wait on him and you'llfind the true rest that is
necessary for life to startlifing again.
Now let me take you back to thebeginning of loss so I can show
you the power of God'srestoration.
Walk with me.
(05:04):
It was 2016.
I was in bed with a girl I hadjust met, picked her up at the
(05:24):
casino last night on a bet.
My buddy was watching her.
He told me she was looking atme.
I told him I didn't mess withAsians.
He shook his head and he sworeshe was on me.
So I remember saying if she'shere, when I get back from the
bathroom, I'll show yousomething.
The last thing that I rememberwas smoking a cigarette with
this girl and telling her herlife had just changed for the
(05:47):
better by meeting me Apparently.
That's what it took.
I thought it was silly, but Iwoke up the next morning and
there she was.
Everything else in betweenthere was a blur Didn't even
know that.
I drove home.
This was how I coped lately,finalizing my divorce.
Not seeing my kids.
I would get numb and incoherent.
(06:08):
I'd black out and wake up withway more questions than I had
answers.
This morning, though, it was alot different than all the rest.
I woke up to my phone ringing.
I looked at the time andimmediately I got sick.
It was 5 am and it was mybrother.
He never called this early.
Something had to be wrong.
When I answered the phone, mywhole world was turned upside
(06:32):
down.
Have you ever gotten one ofthose calls, one that just took
the fabric of your life andunraveled it all in one sentence
?
This was that call.
The sentence was devastatingMom and dad got hit by a car.
Have you ever just gone blank?
No words, but a millionthoughts.
I began to sweat.
I started to cry.
(06:52):
I was ready for revenge onwhatever happened All at once.
I would later find out that myparents were walking their dogs,
as they usually did in themorning, as they were crossing
the street in the crosswalk,they were hit by a truck going
about 45 miles an hour.
About 36 hours later, my momwas gone.
I can still hear the beeping ofthe machine and the sound of it
(07:15):
going flat.
My dad was broken in every way.
His wife of 40 years was nolonger there.
This is the kind of heartbreaknobody should experience
Children losing their mother,men losing their wives.
It's not like she was old oranything.
This was a tragedy and it's notsomething that you want to deal
with alone.
Thankfully, my dad had mysister, my godmother and a
(07:40):
carousel of family in and out oftown constantly checking up on
him, wanting to take care andhelp.
My brothers had their wives orgirlfriends and their kids.
They had someone to navigatethrough tragedy and grief with.
For me, I tried to be there whenI could because I did care
about my family.
So when I was coherent, when Ihad a inkling to be
(08:05):
understanding, I would be thereand I would understand.
But then I would go home andwhen the noise died down and I
had nothing left to give, I'd bethere alone in an empty house,
full of grief, with no shoulderto cry on, nobody to talk
through the pain with, desperateto have that, and nobody came.
(08:25):
There are a million ways toreact and respond to this Failed
marriage, lost kids, lost mom.
After a lifetime of pride andarrogance and never having
experienced grief before whileyou're alone.
For me it was an easy choice tomake in response, endless days
and nights full of alcohol,pills, drugs of every kind.
If it helped me to not feel, ifit helped numb the pain, maybe
(08:49):
if it helped me not think to domindless things.
It was awesome, yes, please.
Itless things, it was awesome,yes, please.
It wasn't long before I foundmyself living to die, washing
down bottles of pills with tallcans of 211, driving reckless,
just doing the most and in theworst ways.
Obviously, one poor choiceafter another doesn't lead to
victory.
I'm here alive and kickingtoday, so my story didn't end
(09:11):
there.
That was only the beginning,though.
I would go on to lose the house, I had, the cars and even the
near six figure salary job I had.
I worked an average of fourhours a day on my butt and
barely did anything, and I madethat kind of money.
Why I didn't make an effort tokeep that, only pride can answer
.
The point is there was a lot ofloss in my life that came as a
(09:31):
result of the locust in my lifecalled pride All those things
that the world uses as a measureof success.
Gone Along with people I calledmy pillars, my biggest
advocates and my kids.
Pride in my heart, pride inmyself, pride in my life, had me
telling God that I don't seehim as God.
He was not in view.
(09:51):
Instead, I was God.
He didn't let that slide and hewon't for anybody else.
Be sure of it.
So be prepared to actaccordingly.
I sit here today now without anyof those earthly treasures,
still don't have the house, thecar, still have not seen my kids
.
Instead, I have peace, a peacethat doesn't make sense, or I
(10:12):
should be stressing I'm lovedand I know how to love.
I didn't used to, Not at all,not since I was a kid.
So, with none of the earthlythings I possessed being
restored, I see nothing otherthan the fact that God knows
what's best when it comes to God, I'll never understand, and he
will always show me somethingnew.
He rarely does things the way Iexpect.
(10:34):
What he gave me back, though,the repayment I received, the
restoration from what the locusttook it's worth it.
As I look at my life now andthe peace I have, I see that the
restoration God has begun in meis a restoration of the life I
was about to lead before pridegot me.
I guess that's why I findmyself enthusiastic like a child
(10:55):
again, why my faith feels pureand innocent.
He gave me back the me thatexisted right before pride crept
in and took control of my life,the innocence that began to
fade after that first time.
I got jumped on the playgroundas a kid.
I'll tell you about thatanother time.
Fact is God does restore what'slost his way on his clock, and
(11:16):
it's likely going to be whatmatters.
He's restored so much on theinside.
I could truly care less.
If he restored the materialthings, I wouldn't mind, but I
am more than content with whathe's given back to me, thank you
(11:52):
.
Another story we can look towhen it comes to restoration is
the story of Job.
See Job.
His story is often brought upas a testament to faith, faith
during storms.
The restoration, though, itcame at the end, through the
(12:14):
storms.
At the end of the storms, see,job lost everything.
He was a wealthy man, thewealthiest man in the land.
So he goes on to say the Lordallows Satan to do basically
everything but kill him.
But test his faith In thattesting.
Job lost his kids, he lost Hishome, all his servants, his
(12:36):
livestock, everything, and ontop of that he was covered with
sores.
Anyways, at the end of thetesting of his faith, god
restored everything to himtwofold.
He gave him a double up.
That is the God that we serve.
So if you're going through astorm today, if you feel like
you're losing all things, maybeit's just the right opportunity
(12:59):
for you to get low and kneel andpray and worship, and in that
gesture you'll be standing tall.
Where do you need God'srestoration?
(13:24):
Maybe it's in your marriage,your career or in your walk with
Him.
Consider it, write it down,pray about it, make room and
trust that he's going to work.
And then let's pause one timefor our weekly challenge this
week.
Ask for God's help in all thethings.
Ask him to show you what hewants to restore in your life,
(13:49):
write down what he reveals andthen commit to praying over that
area of your life every day.
Pray with an expectation thathe's going to do it His way on
His clock and it's going toalign with His will, and pray
with a heart that trustscompletely.
If you need help committing,invite a friend or a loved one,
(14:10):
someone you trust, to help keepyou accountable.
They don't even have to knowwhat the details are, just ask
them to remind you to daily pray.
Remember God's in the businessof restoration.
He wants to restore things.
He wants to make things new.
He wants to give you the lifeof abundance and prosperity that
you have always longed for.
(14:30):
It just may not look the waythat you want it to look, so
lower your opinion of self,lower and humble yourself in
your preference and when you'reasking God for something, just
expect it to be better than whatyou thought.
If it looks like what youwanted, then you had your eyes
aligned with his.
(14:50):
Next week we're going to talkabout servanthood, how living
low means lifting others up.
Servanthood, how living lowmeans lifting others up, just
like Jesus did.
Now let's pray, father.
We thank you that you are theGod that makes all things and
you make all things new.
We thank you that the thief maycome to steal, but you come to
(15:11):
restore, you give us life andyou want to make it better.
We thank you.
We ask this week that you wouldreveal to each and every one of
us where you want to do thework in our lives and give us
the strength to be weak, to behumble and to give you room to
(15:32):
do what you need to do.
Bless the listener and helpthem to grow closer and closer
to you every day this week.
We love you, we praise you.
We give you all the honor andglory in Jesus name.
Amen.
Until next time, stay low, stayblessed and stay ready for the
next episode of the Low LifeShow, peace.
(15:55):
Outro Music.
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