Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry.

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We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.

So God bless you. It's always a joy to come into your homes and if you're ever in our area, I hope you'll stop by and be a part of one of our services.

I promise you we'll make you feel right at home. But thanks so much for tuning in and thank you again for coming out.

I like to start with something funny and I heard about this elderly couple that had been married for over 60 years.

They were at a church fellowship and someone asked them the secret of their success.

The man told how he always treated his wife with respect and he took her own trips all over the world.

He said in fact, for our 25th wedding anniversary, I took her to Beijing, China. Everyone politely applauded.

Then someone spoke up and said, what'd you do for your 50th wedding anniversary? He said, I went back and picked her up.

Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Today I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus' name. God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about having a restoration mentality. In life, we all experience times of loss.

In situations where it feels like something was taken from us. Sometimes it's because of other people's choices. A friend does us wrong. A spouse walks out of a relationship.

Other times it's because of our own choices. Maybe we get involved with the wrong crowd. Develop bad habits. We end up with broken dreams.

We hear that voice telling us again and again, it's your fault. You blew it. Too bad this is as good as it's ever going to be.

Many people are living with regrets. Think about what they should have done. If I've just spent more time raising my children. If I've just been more disciplined and not hung around those people.

Or if I just stayed in school, where would I be today? They don't realize that defeated mindset is keeping them from God's best.

Then there are times it's not somebody else's fault. It's not our own fault. It's just life. You're a good person. You're honoring God. All of a sudden you're facing an illness.

Caught you totally off guard. You lost your health. Or maybe you're being your best each day. You're going to work giving it your all. But business starts to slow down.

You had more than enough at one time. Now you're struggling to get by. When we encounter loss, it's easy to get discouraged to settle where we are and to not expect anything better.

But the good news is our God is a God of restoration. He never said we wouldn't have unfair situations. He never promised we wouldn't experience loss.

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