God intended us to follow Him and live a life in His will; however, sometimes we go astray and pursue another way. We think we know better, or we try to do it on our own. We fall down on our faces, and He picks us up again. He puts the pieces back together and leads us down His road again. Still, we choose the broken road again and again. God is a loving God who disciplines us and restores us when we go astray.
A parent’s goal with their children should be to train them up to be adults who love the Lord and contribute to society. However, the road to this goal can often bring heartache, bad decisions, and restoration. But a good parent does not disown their children when they make mistakes. They restore them, teach them, and help them get back up on the right track. This is what God, the Father, does with us as His children. He restores us back to our right relationship with Him, He teaches us in His Word how to follow Him, and He leads us down the right path again. Just as a child does not always know what is good for them at the time, we as Christians do not always know what is good for us until later.
It is a wonderful thing to look back and see what God has done in our lives, how He restored us, how He taught us, and how He led us back to Him.