A Confession: I Have a Favorite Word

I have a favorite word. I’m sure this makes me a little/a lot nerdy. But, oh well.

It’s not a really cool or crazy word. It doesn’t have a lot of letters. It’s not even a loved one’s name or anything like that.

It’s a word of hope. It promises that awful things will not end like that. It brings change. It’s beauty from ashes, treasure from trash. It’s optimistic and pure and sacred. It’s the belief that something good can come from even the scariest of things. Light, when the darkness seems to continue forever. 

It’s redemption.

Yes, that’s my favorite word. 

God redeemed my worthless self, saying, “Daughter, you are not worthless. I have a purpose for you, a job only you can do.” 

Jesus redeemed me, saying, “Child, you don’t have to be bound to this life of sin and despair and loneliness. I’ve got garments of gladness and praise.” 

The Holy Spirit redeems me, saying, “Friend, you will never walk alone.”

There is a quote I LOVE, and it talks about redemption. It’s in the book Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist. The book, is somewhere in my house. I just can’t find it. It seems the books are taking over my room at this current moment. Anyways, I found another quote, also by Shauna Niequist in her second book Bittersweet. Both are great reads.

So the quote:

“I believe that God is making all things new. I believe that Christ overcame death and that pattern is apparent through life and history: life from death, water from a stone, redemption from failure, connection from alienation. I believe that suffering is part of the narrative, and that nothing really good gets built when everything’s easy.”

This beautiful quote is redemption in a nutshell. 

Yes, God is making all things new. Even me. Even you. 

Yes, Christ overcame death, a perfect picture of redemption. 

And yes, sometimes things have to feel pretty bad before they get better. 

Change sometimes causes pain. Pain is sometimes good.

Pain sometimes means growth. And growth, it is very good.

I'll make a list of God's gracious dealings, all the things God has done that need praising, All the generous bounties of God, his great goodness to the family of Israel— 

Compassion lavished, love extravagant. 

He said, "Without question these are my people, children who would never betray me." 

So he became their Savior. In all their troubles, he was troubled, too. 

He didn't send someone else to help them. He did it himself, in person. 

Out of his own love and pity he redeemed them. 

He rescued them and carried them along for a long, long time.

~Isaiah 63: 7-9