You Are WantedExemplo

God Wants to Redeem Your Story

You and I hold a difficult story. We hold memories of experiences inside us that may be difficult to say out loud. I remember the day my counsellor asked me to speak out my deepest fear.

With more emotion than I expected, I blurted out, "My greatest fear is that this pain would hold no purpose. That it would be for nothing!"

We sat for a long time in silence until she said, "God wants to redeem your story so others will come to a deeper understanding of Him."

This is true for you too. God wants to redeem your story. Your pain is not pointless. He has good things in store for you, and when He has done His healing work in your life, He is going to bring people onto your path who need to know God has not left them.

This is what redemption is. It's a total overhauling. God makes beautiful new things out of broken, jagged pieces. During the darkest days, I hung on the promise found in Isaiah 43:19, where God says, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."(NIV)

He's doing a new thing. He's making a way through. He's bringing life to the places that have dried up.

Through the death of Jesus on the cross, we are new creations. We are brought home, bought back, and released from the bondage that has been hurting us. Radical acceptance. Ultimate freedom.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."

Our story of rejection leaves us feeling unwanted. Jesus says we are worthy of His death on the cross (John 3:16).

The betrayal we've experienced has us believing we are not good enough. Jesus paid the ultimate price to rescue, redeem and bring us home to Him (Colossians 1:13-14)

If you're like me, you may struggle to turn all of the pain and heartache over to God. It might be difficult to let go of the hurtful narrative running through your mind. I get it - when rejection and betrayal crash into our lives we begin to believe the messages handed to us.

But God is asking us to hand all the pieces over to Him. He wants to do something amazing in our lives. He wants to redeem our story.

To hold onto the messages of rejection is to disagree with God that His Son’s death on the cross was enough. To remain burdened by our past is to decide that what God offers isn’t enough. But it is enough, isn’t it? The death and resurrection of Jesus are enough to remind us that we are wanted. We matter.

The Bible is full of redemption stories – powerful stories of men and women like us finding radical acceptance and ultimate freedom through encounters with Jesus. Their stories of redemption matter, because they remind us what God will do when we give Him our pain and brokenness.

The Samaritan woman at the well lived under the oppression of rejection, but when she met Jesus, she returned to the village as a minister. And people believed what she said because of her testimony! Many people came to saving faith in Jesus through her words. (John 4:5-30)

Mary Magdalene held a sordid past, but Jesus redeemed her story. And we find her throughout the gospels, fully involved in the ministry of her Saviour. She was set free and made new.

The woman who bled in Luke 8 had lived for twelve years in shame and isolation. Her health condition would have made her an outcast. But with one touch of the cloak of Jesus, she was healed.

That’s how God works, isn’t it? Our brokenness doesn’t make Him uncomfortable. He sees our pain as having a purpose. God repurposes broken things all the time. It's how He redeems us, and it's how He reveals His love for us. When we trust Him and turn our pain over to Him, He is always ready and willing to make something beautiful with it.

Healing Activity

Write a short statement that reminds you that you are redeemed. For me, this statement was simply, “I trust you with my story, Jesus. I give you all the broken pieces to make a new and beautiful story."

Prayer

God, I love that you bought me back. Thank you for that. Help me to accept this gift and the redemption you offer. I want to be used by You and my pain to have a purpose. Please help me see the bigger picture, even though it's so hard right now. Please use me for your purpose. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.