"And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten," 

Joel 2:25a KJV

This week I am participating in a blog tour with the 540 Writer's Group. I am going to do my best to answer each day's prompt with a devotional piece in keeping with the theme of this blog. The prompt today asked what projects we are working on. And I'm working on restoring my deck. However, I believe the more specific prompt is in relation to our writing projects.  Well, the Powel and Richardson families who are featured in my Shadow of the Steeples fiction series are also in need of restoration in certain areas of their lives so this promise is for them. The primary locust in my series is alcoholism. However, Joel goes on to list other crop destroying insects. And there are other joy destroying "insects" in the series, mostly affecting Jack Richardson, the main character of Seeds That Shatter which is book 2 in the series. A Trail of Evening Primrose (the Powel family) was published in February of this year and Seeds came along in May. I chose May to coincide with the birthday of the friend who inspired the story. Young Jack tries desperately to please God so his mother's beatings will stop. Eventually, a teenage Jack gives up trying and does his best to get as far away from God as possible.  He lives recklessly, but as he will someday discover, never out of God's sight or protection. 

As to how I came up with the idea. I borrowed the name Powel from the family archives and some truths from my mother's past. Then I played with some what ifs and added in some fiction to depict a family that came to rely on God when trouble came their way.  The restoration comes early in the story as a young girl is adopted after her father killed her mother and set their shanty on fire in a drunken rage.  Young Amber is happy but missing her brother and sister who were adopted separately. The locust known as alcoholism returns though leading to estrangement and heartache. The Powel family will battle this particular locust again in book 3, Rooted in Surrender (not yet published.) 

The message here is important. Like broken greenhouses, broken people can be restored if God is in control of the restoration. He will restore the years the locust has destroyed when we surrender.