Jesus the Redeemer

Last night, I was on the phone with an amazing friend (love you!) In our conversation, I put to words the thoughts I've been having for the last few months.

Every time I come home, I look through about a decade's worth of old journals. I've been keeping one since I was seven years old, and the collection is one of my greatest treasures. I've grown to write a lot more, more often, and about more serious things, but one special thing has stayed constant. I've always written down some of my prayers. It's amazing to see how my prayers have been answered - in unexpected ways, at unexpected times. Things have happened to me in the last few years that I prayed for when I was just 8 or 9 years old. I didn't remember them, but God did. That's so incredibly awesome, but there's more to this story.

Flipping the pages, I felt pain, regret, shame, sorrow, and guilt. Things I should have said, things I should have done. So many missed oppotunities to make the Lord known, to make Him look good. All because I was too worried about what everyone else would think to surrender to Christ's life in exchange for my own.

But, in that shame, in that weakness, God displayed His awesomeness and authority. He showed me my past two years of life, and how He's redeeming me. He's putting me in situations that give me a second chance. He's letting me do now what I didn't do then. Peter denied Jesus three times, but when Jesus rose, He gave Peter the opportunity to profess his love for Christ three times. I'm sure I've turned away from my Savior far more than three times, but in His blood, He's given me way more than three more chances.

It's not about me - it's about the Word in the Flesh poured out on the cross.



Father, thank You that I'm not who I once was. Thank You for sending Your Beloved Son to die that I might live again. In Your Name, Amen.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17