Redeemed.

"Some wandered in the desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.  They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

And HE delivered them from their distress.

Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains.

And HE brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

And HE sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

Others were merchants on the mighty waters…they mounted up to the heaves and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away.  They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits’ end.

And HE stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his UNFAILING love and his WONDERFUL deeds for men."

-Excerpts from Psalm 107.

Today I am overwhelmed by a God who sees all of these people.  Who sees the wanderers, the prisoners, the fools and the merchants (or as I like to think of them, “the self-made man”).  But He not only sees them; He answers them.  He comes to them.  He is exactly what they need.  He takes their brokenness, their confusion, their mistakes, their fears, their pain and he redeems it. 

I know my story.  I know how God has saved me from myself more times than I can count.  But I think I often underestimate the power of His love.  I forget that He works in everyone’s life the way He works in mine.  And so I am stopped dead in my tracks when I hear other people’s stories of redemption.  I am overwhelmed when I experience genuine, selfless love from a person whose story is so filled with pain and disappointment.  It’s easy for me to understand how someone from middle class America with loving parents and a good education can be loving and generous.  That MAKES sense.  When you have been loved, you in turn love.  But when I hear the stories of my friends and my students and the random strangers I interact with on a daily basis, I am undone by a God who can fix all things broken.  A God who not only wants to FIX it, he wants to make it something entirely new.  Something beautiful and strong and something that will forever cause people to stop and say, “Only by the grace of God.”  Because THAT is how I feel.  I look in the faces of these precious people and I know.  I know that their joy and their love and their strength and their patience and their beauty is because of Him alone.  

Because it’s the only reason MY life has been redeemed.  

(Also, if you've never heard this song, you should listen to it now cause it basically sums up everything I'm feeling tonight.  Beautiful Things)