I love words and meanings. Lately I’ve had my sights set on the word Redemption and these hope-filled phrases: to ransom completely, to rescue from loss, to release, preserve, deliver by any means, rescue.
The Old and New Testaments paint a beautiful picture of redemption through verses like these:
“But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol…” Psalm 49:15
“Into Your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” Psalm 31:5
“The Lord redeems the life of His servants, none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” Psalm 34:22
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14
From these verses we see that God is a God who fully rescues, who delivers by any means, who buys back.
I think this is beautiful because there is a lot in my life that needs to be redeemed. This truth is comforting: If God fully rescues and preserves and delivers by any means then my fight for hope is not in vain.
Fighting for hope means clinging to redemption. It means believing that God can redeem- buy back, rescue from loss, ransom in full – situations and relationships in our lives. Because of the beauty of redemption we can stand firm and yell what Dan Allender calls “the quintessential cry of hope” in The Healing Path
God turned into good what you meant for evil. (Genesis 50:20, NLT)
I call it the war cry of hope fighters.
Fighting for hope means believing change can happen. It means leaning forward into each day, fighting for traction, for momentum that can move us forward – even an inch.
It means going to counseling to find out why an addiction has a hold in our lives. It means believing that a day will come when that hold is broken.
It means eating well and taking care of ourselves. It means doing what is best, not easiest. It might mean moving closer to someone who is hurting, or it might mean pulling away from someone who is self-destructing.
Sometimes it means waiting.
But fighting for hope always means believing God will bring good where darkness meant it for evil.
I clearly remember the day God asked me to stop running and become a fighter for hope.
Before that day I knew that trials were part of life in this broken world and that God could help me through, but I had no clue that God would ever ask me to walk through a trial purposefully without knowing the outcome.
We were seven years into our marriage and the masks we’d been wearing were coming unglued and sins hidden too long in the dark began pouring out.
I wish I could say that I accepted my fighter of hope status with great zeal. Instead I sat weeping on the edge of my bed “I can’t do this. It’s too hard and it hurts too much. I want out.” And God answered me as clearly as if He’d said it aloud. “I want you to walk through this. I will be with you.”
That was 16 years ago this month. And the journey has been filled with chasms where I got lost, and mountain tops where I thought the trials were over. In the dark chasms I lost hope, I lost my footing, and forgot that God ever promised to be with me.
But he was with me through every step. He is still with me. And when I begin listening to lies whispered in those dark chasms He sends in truth so I can find my way out of the darkness.
Things do not have to stay where they are right now because God is a God who fully rescues, at all cost, buys back, and restores.
The beauty of redemption.
Do you have a Redemption Chapter in the story of your life? Or are you in the middle of a journey now? Can you see the beauty of redemption in your story?
“The war cry of the hope fighter”…love this imagery!. As someone who also has her own beautiful story of redemption, and is seeing the fight for hope in the waiting process of adoption right now, these words are so good. And so true. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
This speaks so much to my heart right now. It is so comforting to hear ho God redeemed the valleys as chasms in your marriage and through the years! I just wrote a post on redemption too this past week, because my husband and I have been going through a long trial of unemployment and it has been such a long dark year. But words like this remind me that God really is in the business of redeeming people, and our time is coming. Thank you for sharing!
Heather, I am so thankful that these words were encouraging! Thank you so much for sharing about this difficult time. I will be praying for you and your husband. You are right – your time is coming. This is not the last chapter. God is working!