5“Then I
will restore to you the years that the locust swarm devoured,
as did the young locust, the other locusts,
and the ravaging locust,
that great army of mine that I sent among
you.
26You will have plenty to eat, and will be
fully satisfied.
You will praise the name of the LORD your
God,
who has performed wonders specifically for
you.
And my people will never be ashamed.
27As a result, you will know that I am in the
midst of Israel;
that I myself am the LORD your God—
and there is none other!
And my people will never be ashamed.”
Joel 2:25-27
In 2006, when I accepted Jesus into
my heart and into my life, I had no idea to what capacity the word redemption
would hold for me. The years before had
been years filled with destructive habits, self-demolition, and darkness. Sin had ruled and reigned so heavy in my life
that even my physical body ached of it, just as King David's had. Satan had
managed to, even if only momentarily, disrupt every plan for Hope and a Future
that God had for me.
Moments before the Spirit of God
completely invaded my life, I sat hopeless; ruined; and completely broken. Digging a way out of the mud and mire that I was
in seemed ridiculously impossible, and for me, it was.
BUT GOD...Don't you just love when a
story has those two words in it? BUT GOD, in His deep love and mercy; being
Jehovah-Rapha (The God who Heals), knew I needed help. He knew I needed a Mighty Savior to do for me
what I could not do for myself. I was
severely wounded from the war Satan had waged against me. I needed more than just healing. I needed complete REDEMPTION.
So on that night in 2006, God gave
me His word. It was quite possibly the
most audible word I have ever had Him speak to me. It literally seemed to be out loud. Not your typical still small voice.
The Lord assured me that every part
of me that was broken; every area in my life that had been damaged:
relationships, reputations, personal failures, and broken dreams would be
healed, restored, REDEEMED. Not
partially. Not mostly. But back to the original canvas that God had
initially created them as: Pure, clean, & undefiled by sin.
This is where I need to remind you
that God NEVER breaks His promises. He
is true to His word. He will NEVER fail
His beloveds.
As I sit here seven years later, I
can honestly say that my mind cannot even comprehend how the Lord has kept that
promise to me way beyond anything I could have ever asked or imagined.
Tiny little details of my life that
I didn’t know needed redeeming, well, He thought they did and He redeemed
them! Every minute area in my life that “the
locust” or Satan had stolen from me, God gave me back TEN-FOLD!
I wish I had time to tell you all
about the REDEMPTION God has done in my life, but unfortunately I know that “ain’t
nobody got time for that”. For those who
have walked with me through this journey, you have had the great honor of
seeing firsthand God’s amazing work.
Consider yourselves very blessed because you have witnessed a true
miracle.
Although I won’t overload you with
EVERY SINGLE THING He has done, please allow me to tell you the latest two
things He has redeemed. They are really,
really, good!
Many of you read on my Facebook a
while back that I had a testimony to go with this pregnancy. It is a true story of redemption and one I
want the whole world to hear about.
As most of you know, when I was 18 I
had an abortion. Satan had so entangled
me in sin that I made the worst decision I have ever made in my life. I ended the life of my first child. Satan fought hard to convince me of this
decision because he KNEW how it would destroy me. And it did.
Once I accepted Jesus in my heart, I
knew that would be the area I needed the most healing in. I knew that part of me needed to be
redeemed. I also knew God would do it. I just didn’t know when or how.
Fast-foward seven years later…..
Happily married and trying to conceive our first child, my husband and I
struggled through two miscarriages. As devastating
as they were, I knew my God was good and EVERYTHING he did was for my
good. So I clung to His truth and hope. Finally, we got a SURPRISE third
pregnancy! I was called in for an early
ultrasound due to the past difficulties with my other two pregnancies. During the ultrasound, the baby was there, the
heartbeat was there, but the Sonographer said the size of the baby was
concerning according to my cycle dates. They
gave me my due date, which was the end of January, and told me to come back the
next week to be rechecked.
Fear and doubt crept into my soul,
but again, God convinced me to trust Him.
So I did.
We came back a week later to see if
our sweet baby had grown anymore and if everything was ok. And wouldn’t you know, that little baby had
the strongest heartbeat and had grown just perfectly! The nurses concluded our dates had been
wrong, the baby was right where she needed to be, and they gave me a new due
date: February 13th, 2014.
So what is the relevance, you
ask? February 13th is the
relevance. February is the month 8 years
ago that I had ended that precious life that was growing inside of me. 8 Years ago in February, Satan had allured me
into the most heinous, evil act I could have ever imagined myself doing.
BUT GOD! There it is again. BUT GOD, in His sweet, sweet, sweet,
redemption wanted to take that very thing that I meant for evil and turn it
into GOOD for HIS GLORY. So, on the VERY
SAME MONTH (My God loves to show off) 8 years ago that I ended LIFE, God
redeemed it and is giving me LIFE back! Hallelujah, WHAT A SAVIOR!
God even had a purpose in those
miscarriages. He knew the time was not
right and that if we would wait patiently, not only would he bring us the baby
we were dreaming of but He would bring COMPLETE HEALING to me as well! Ah, He
is so GOOD, is He not?
You know, I think today I am going
to end on that note. The second story I
have of His redemption is wonderful, but I want you to sit on this one for a
while and marvel at His goodness.
He cares about you, beloved. He cares about every MINUTE detail in your
life, down to the months, hours, and seconds.
He has not forgotten what Satan did
to you and HIS vengeance, not yours but HIS, is GLORIOUS! His vengeance is REDEMPTION. And there is no sweeter thing.