I started watching this show, “Remedy,” about a chief of staff dad and his children, two daughters (a surgeon and a nurse) and a son, Griffin, working in the same hospital.
Griffin is the black sheep of the family. He dropped out of med school. He was a drug addict. Disappeared for 2 years without communication with his family. Blew back into town only to get mixed up with an exotic dancers club and murder. Cleared his name with his family’s intervention, but on the condition that he works in the hospital…as a porter. Aka an orderly. The “lowest” rung in the hospital ladder. They clean the hospital and shuttle patients around.
Griffin works alongside Bruno, who was a surgeon in Columbia. He came to America to build a better life for his family, but his credentials don’t transfer and he can only get a job as a porter.
Griffin and Bruno seems to have the same story, but how they got to where they are, is different. Griffin put himself there. He’s like the prodigal son. Through his own choices, he ended up in the pig sty. Bruno was put there. Yes, he chose to leave his life as a surgeon in Columbia to build a better life for his family. Why not build that life in Columbia? The show didn’t say, but alluded that it couldn’t be built in Columbia. He’s kinda like Job.
Their attitudes are different too. Griffin is a slacker. He disappears during shift and doesn’t follow the rules. He was given the chance to go back to med school. His dad is going to pay for it. His sister’s fiance is going to pull strings to get him in. But (although he wants it) acts like he doesn’t want it or care. Bruno keeps his nose clean, works the hardest, is kind to patients, respectful to others, and even makes Griffin realize the opportunity he’s throwing away.
Do you ever feel like Griffin or Bruno?
Do you ever feel like you were destined for something greater but you’re stuck in the lowest of the low? Or have you been on top of the world only to fall farther than where you started?
Maybe you feel like the prodigal son or like Job or like me, a combination of both. Through my own choices and through things I couldn’t have foreseen, I don’t feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. That I should have done this by now, or accomplished that by yesterday.
Perhaps you feel the same way. Through some choices and through things out of your control, you’re in a place you never thought you’d be. You may be at a low point in life. You may feel stuck. You may feel like a victim.
And perhaps you act like you don’t care when you really do (but it hurts to admit that). Maybe you lost some hope and living life que sera sera, whatever will be, will be. Or maybe you keep your nose clean, work hard, feet on the ground, grinding the 9 to 5. And getting nowhere.
It’s easy, then, to throw a pity party for ourselves. Or to get lost in our worries, even depression. It’s easy to focus on where we are, what we’ve lost, and the injustice or unfairness of it all.
But God has a promise for His children.
God will restore you. Just as He restored Job to a place he’d never thought he’d be in…a better place of double portion, God will restore you. Just as He showed restoration for the prodigal son, God will restore you.
If you are wounded, God will restore you.
If you were rejected, God will restore you.
If you lost friendships, God will restore you.
If you feel unsought (and my single friends, I know how it feels to be unsought), God will restore you.
God will restore you and me to the place He intended for us to be in. It doesn’t matter if we made a thousand wrong choices. It doesn’t matter if people have kicked us and thrown us down. Our God is more powerful than choices and circumstances. (Tweet that!)
Have faith in our loving and almighty God. He will restore you.
Linking up today with The Single Life and Thriving Thursdays
