to recover; to make up for; to make amends for; offset some shortcoming or fault; to obtain the release of as by captivity by paying a ransom. theology- to deliver from sin and its consequences by means of a sacrifice offered for a sinner.
This is what Christ did for me. He delivered me from sin and darkness and its consequences, which are eternal seperation from Him in hell, by way of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He died on the cross taking my place, my punishment, my death; me, a sinner was saved by grace through faith in this sacrifice and now I am redeemed. Wow! Do you know how good it is just to write that every once in a while? Or to say it every once in a while? I don't know about you but I forget who I am daily and constantly need to be reminded. But more than reminding me who I am, I need to be more reminded who He is. Jesus is redeemer and is in the business of redeeming.
This past weekend I was given the gift of redemption and I just have to write about it. It was one of those weekends that will take time to work itself out in me and I will be thinking about it for a long time. So many lessons I learned this weekend. So forgive me if I don't get it all out perfectly today- it is still very fresh.
I have not been to South Carolina to visit my family (1 uncle, 3 aunts, 1 grandmother, 1 step grandfather, 7 cousins+ some of them have spouses and children+friends) in at least 7 years. Over the past seven years we have sporadically seen them as a couple of them have traveled this way for my brother's wedding or to my mom's house for a visit. But I, myself, have not gone to S.C. for a visit since Alora was a baby and she is about to turn eight in October! Why? This is a good question and I could come up with all sorts of answers that would be true like, "my husband is a minister and it is hard to get him away on the weekends" or " I was a teacher working a full time job" "It's nine hours to get there". I always had good intentions of heading that way but I never pursued it eough to make it happen. But what it all really came down to is sin. I have made excuses on top of excuses, without really thinking about it because of, first and foremost, fear. Fear is a strong emotion and if not carefully tended and turned over it can breed sin. The other thing keeping me from that trip was pride. Pride is also a strong emotion. I have just been in self-preservation mode. People, that is pride and it is sin.
So, my brother, my mom and I began planning this trip about a month ago. It just worked out perfectly for us to go with Joey still being on sebbatical and all. So my dad, mom, brother, Nicole, Joey, Andrew and Alora loaded up and headed that way. I just knew it was time to go. We were only there Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. We traveled back on Sunday. It is really hard to explain but some of the best moments for me in my life have happened in a moment or in a short weekend. This was one of those.
Time was redeemed. Relationships were redeemed. Space was redeemed. Lost years were redeemed. I can't really explain that. Maybe its only me that feels that way, but I don't think so; Everybody felt that way. No, I don't feel like anybody there knows my favorite color or my favorite dessert. No, I didn't have deep discussions about the sovereignty of God or my new reading book. But what I discovered was that them knowing "me" wasn't the point. I wanted to know them badly. I wanted our time, and space, and years to be redeemed and that is what He did. God needed to do some work on me and some times He has to take me to another state to do it. He made me come face to face with redemption on a physical level and a spiritual one. He showed me unconditional love in my family only to point me to Him and His unconditional love. How glorious is that! I can't even tell you how many hugs and "I love yous" I had this past weekend, but it was enough to remove some scar tissue on my heart and enough to soften some callouses that had grown there-Praise the Lord! I thank God for my family. It brings me to tears to think about all of them this morning and all of their beautiful faces.
Thank you, Jesus, for paying the price for sin that we may know and have redemption and thank you for providing us with family to walk alongside us, through all of the trials, suffereings, pains, and joys of life. Father, forgive me for only thinking about myself. Thank you for opening my eyes and my heart to others. Thank you for redeeming a wretch like me.
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