redemption is ours for the taking.

Recently, I went on a trip to Hong Kong. Traveling is such an important thing in my life. Jesus always shows up when I travel, in a way that is so tender and so beautiful. It’s an overwhelming feeling—being connected to God’s beauty through traveling. It unravels my soul in the best possible way. Every single time.

While I was there, we hiked one of the most intense hikes I’ve ever been on. It was a mountain called Lion’s Rock, and t’s about a 2 hour hike—straight uphill. I kid you not, it was straight up and mostly steps, too. I had no idea how intense it was going to be, but my team kept promising me that the view was going to be worth it. So I kept pushing. I kept climbing.

 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger bringing good news. Isaiah 52:7

While I was climbing this rock, I was having so many doubts. I was frustrated. My knees were dirty. My hands were balled up into fist, pushing through the climb. I was aching. I was pushing. I wanted to quit. But, how beautiful are the feet. It rang loud in my spirit. I was immediately drawn to redemption. It rings loud in my ears.

Redemption is a beautiful thing, because it’s ours from the beginning. It’s ours for the taking. From the minute we accept Jesus into our hearts, redemption is ours. It’s our backbone. Our climb, our fight, and our push is different because not only do we have Jesus, but we have a testimony through redemption. We get to look back at where we’ve been, and look back at the things that have held us captive, and look with eyes of healing because of being redeemed in and through Jesus.

It hasn’t always been that way, though. Redemption hasn’t always been my battle cry. I haven’t always been brave and felt free, and I sure as heck didn’t always speak up. I know pain deeply and I have carried it around for years. I still carry it, but there is grace and Love, and I’ve spent more time tapping into that.

But, with redemption and by walking in my God given identity, the load is lighter. It has become manageable, and a part of my story, instead of my excuse. It has been so freeing and beautiful to heal. Joy radiates from my face, and I cannot believe it. That God loves me so much that He would give me a story, and worth—and this Ziploc bag kind of grace, spilling out all over my brokenness. I can look out to my past and say, “Hey, you have no hold over me…” and I can turn the corner and see my future and say, “you look oh so good, my friend.”

“Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.”  Ephesians 1:7-10

Through Jesus, there is freedom. An abundance of freedom. I’m saying all of this because it is possible. It is possible to turn it around. God can and WILL redeem. He’s in the business of healing. My walk is proof of it. My heart beats to that anthem. I want you to know it, too.