Coming Out Better

Pastor Joel @ Lakewood 

We all go through disappointments but when God restores no one will know it. He will restore us to our original condition.

Beauty For Ashes (book)

What a challenge took out of you, God is about to restore.

Instead of your shame you  shall  have double honor, And instead  of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; Everlasting joy shall be theirs.

Isaiah 61:7 NKJV

The king's satraps, governors, mayors, and advisers gathered around the three men. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies. The hair on their heads wasn't singed, their clothes weren't burned, and they didn't smell of smoke.

Daniel 3:27 GW

Those boys came out with no sign that they'd been through a fire. They didn't even smell like smoke.

When you pass through the waters, I will  be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Isaiah 43:2 NKJV

What was meant for harm will be an advantage.

And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what  they  requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Exodus 12:36 NKJV

Israelites didn't leave looking like slaves.

You may have been a slave to some things and the same will be for me. 

Tyler Perry doesn't look like the poverty and dysfunction that he grew up in. 

You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side.

Psalms 71:21 NKJV

Joseph

Sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, he rose to become vizier, the second most powerful man in Egypt next to Pharaoh, where his presence and office caused Israel to leave Canaan and settle in Egypt.

Joseph was running the country and there was no sign of the pit or the prison he'd gone through.

I'm not coming out bedraggled!

Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who  had  been  demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

Mark 5:15 NKJV

Prodigal Son

In the story, a father has two sons, a younger and an older. The younger son asks the father for his inheritance, and the father grants his son's request. However, the younger son is prodigal (i.e., wasteful and extravagant) and squanders his fortune, eventually becoming destitute. The younger son is forced to return home empty-handed and intends to beg his father to accept him back as a servant. To the son's surprise, he is not scorned by his father but is welcomed back with celebration and fanfare. Envious, the older son refuses to participate in the festivities. The father reminds the older son that one day he will inherit everything, and that they should still celebrate the return of the younger son because he was lost and is now found.

"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

Luke 15:22 NKJV

He was made to look nothing like what he'd been through.