redeemed

When we moved I realized we had boxes of old records that were no longer worth keeping. Going through them was like walking through my life a second time.

1991: cancer. I was a young mom. Afraid out of my mind. You aren’t supposed to get cancer when you’re young.

I shredded hospital bills. Loads and loads of them. Chemotherapy reports. Surgeries. Radiation. Reports that said the cancer spread. Statistics that said the odds were against me.

Shredding these were both healing and joyous. 

1998: A drunk driver hit my son and two other young boys. Six weeks of hospital bills. A year of recovery. Physical therapy. Reports that the drunk driver had insufficient insurance. Police reports and alcohol levels. Newspaper clippings.

I didn’t shred these. They are part of Ryan’s story. I put them in a file to give them to him.

2001: I made the 10 years they said I wouldn’t and decided to pursue my dream of writing.

I shredded my first paycheck for writing: $10.00

Year by year I walked through some of the hardest and most wonderful places in our marriage, in my role as a mom, and as a believer.

I shook my head at what I didn’t know.

If only I had known then what I know now. . .  but I didn’t, and it was all part of the growing process. In the end, there were 15 trash bags. I imagined the recycle guy loading the thousands of shredded pieces of paper into his truck and shaking his fist at me.

Later, I found several pieces in my lawn. Some floating down the street.

Yesterday I found this. Evidently a bird found a piece of it, too. This is the tree right outside my front door.

nest
My old life had found new life! Four fragile eggs nestled inside. Isn’t it funny how God uses the simplest of images to remind us of the greatest of His teachings.   isaiah431  When you go back through your life, are there parts that you are still carrying around?

God is our redeemer. 

Redemption: To exchange something for an award; 2) to purchase back.

The God of redemption walks through the hard places and the good places with us.

The God of redemption exchanges our heartache for peace.

The God of redemption brings new life out of old.

And those places you hate, that you would give a million dollars to redo due to sin?

Those He already purchased on the cross. He’s just waiting for you to place them in His hands.

As Christ followers, our lives look like that nest. All the pieces are woven perfectly to contain the new inside.

He’s your redeemer. 

Suzie

Just you and God

Martin Luther once said, “The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs to me; it has hands, it lays hold of me.”

Meditate on these scriptures today.

Let them seep into your thoughts, your heart, your being.

2nd Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV) – Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.