Redeemed

I have no idea why my posts are "heavy" this week. Maybe it's because I'm deep in my Esther study. Maybe it's being reflective about the 10 year anniversary of my Mammaw's death. I don't really know.

I keep running into the word "redeemed". I heard it in the sermon on Sunday, read it in my Esther study, and saw it on Angie's blog. I looked it up, and a couple of the definitions on the Free Dictionary are:

• To fulfill (a pledge, for example). To set free; rescue or ransom.
• To save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences.
• To make up for.
• To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of.

I'm not sure what I've thought it meant all these years. I guess only the second definition. And not that that's not a big deal, but the other ones---they just hit me. Especially as I read through the words of the new Selah song that Angie posted on her blog and thought about everything in my own personal life that is, has been, or will be "redeemed". Some of the song is written below. You can read the full words to the song here.

Unredeemed

(Written by Chad Cates, Tony Wood, Brian Petak)

Produced by Bernie Herms

The cruelest words. The coldest heart. The deepest wounds. The endless dark. The lonely ache. The burning tears. The bitter night. The wasted years. Life breaks and falls apart, but we know these are places where grace is. Soon to be so amazing. They may be unfulfilled. They may be unrestored, but when anything that’s shattered is laid before the Lord. Just watch and see. It will not be

Unredeemed.

For every choice that led to shame. And all the love that never came. For every vow that someone broke. And every life that gave up hope. We live in the shadow of the fall, but the cross says these are all – just places where grace is. Soon to be so amazing. They may be unfulfilled. They may be unrestored, but when anything that’s shattered is laid before the Lord. Just watch and see. It will not be

Unredeemed.

I just can't tell you what the bolded part of that song does for me. I have struggled with choices I made that led to shame for years (13 to be exact), with understanding why love wasn't returned, with broken promises (on my end and others' ends). But mostly, just with living in the shadow of those bad decisions. They aren't thoughts I let consume me anymore, but they are nagging thoughts in the back of my mind that occasionally make their way to the front and get more attention than they deserve.

I love the idea of thinking of all of those as "places where grace is". Of knowing that if I lay them down, they will be:

• Fulfilled; set free; rescued; ransomed.
• Made up for.
• Restored with honor and worth.
  

Don't ya just love that? Makes me feel "set free" already...