¹ The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.

That’s the very best description of our very dead marriage that I’ve ever read. One of the last times Clint attempted to reconcile with me, I took off my wedding ring and side-armed it across the room at him.

Eleven years of nothing but dry bones. Very dry bones.

A 3,000-mile long valley floor full of very dry bones.

³He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” 

Uh, these bones? You mean…the ones over here? Nope. No way. The chances of the bones from our dead marriage being pieced back together? Zero.

Nada. Zip. Not gonna happen.

The chances of escaping God’s restorative reach?

Same same.

I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” ⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breathenter you, and you will come to life. ⁶I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

Who would have ever thought?

Not our friends. Not our families. Not us.

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them,

Forgiveness set our bones in rattling motion.

Bone to bone.

But there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’”

Then the four winds of God’s holy breath began to blow upon us slain. And He blew…and blew…and blew some more. Life imparting.

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

Those same very dry bones risen from the grave–now with sinews and skin and breath and life–have been standing for almost nine years.

And what about your very dry bones?

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them.”

Why would they be any different from ours?

I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’” (Ezekiel 37, emphasis added)