Redeemed

Redeemed. The word has been presenting itself more and more in my conscience lately. When I sit and try to meditate on scripture it's there in my mind. As I'm sending my kids off to school it pops up. When I'm walking along minding my own business I can hear it whispered to the depths of my soul.

Redeemed. It's not a word we hear often outside of religious circles. When was the last time I even heard it at church? Maybe it's because we've become such a consumer driven culture. Instead of repairing something or giving it a new life we just throw it out and get a new one. I'm guilty of it myself. In a place and time when it is so easy to get new things I don't like to keep the old around.

Redeemed. The word has come to be so precious to me in the last few weeks. This summer I've been dealing with some issues from my childhood. The other night was a particularly tough time. My sweet, caring husband was at his wit's end trying to understand what was going on with me. The tears wouldn't stop and I was so ashamed of my past that I could do nothing but turn my back to him, curl up in the fetal position, and cry myself to sleep. The hate, and anger, and that I found in my heart scared and repulsed me. It was a dark, ugly place and I didn't want anyone to go there with me. I woke the next morning with that word in my head. Redeemed.

So, I asked. "God, is it you? Are you the voice that's been whispering to me? That voice that keeps saying redeemed?" And in that beautiful quiet voice that I have come to know and trust He said to me. "I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. Child, you are mine." What a supremely happy knowledge to know that God, The Creator, The Beginning and The End, The Redeemer loves me and calls me His child. He is already in that dark, ugly place in my soul and He has redeemed it.

And my response to that amazing love?

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

-Fanny Crosby