Write Your Own Redemption Story

“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. – Jeremiah 33: 6-8

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 32-33; Hebrews 1

We love to see stories of redemption. Have you ever read an article about a person who, after having been down on their luck, received wonderful opportunities? There is something magical about it. I think that deep down inside we want to believe in the happy endings that redemptive stories bring into our lives.

But I wonder how many of us believe that we too can experience redemption. I know many people who for years have beat themselves up over mistakes that they made. I used to be this way too. In the times that I was most lost I looked to the past to try to understand, to try to achieve clarity for where I needed to go in the future.

It is one thing to look into the past, but a whole different thing to languish there. The past is the past for a reason. It is meant to be left behind us. And the very most we are to mourn it. Mourning is part of letting go, and without letting go the past, it will find its way back into our present.

Also, at the very least, we are to learn from it. The past is life’s great university. Understanding the mistakes and successes of others as well as ourselves can be instructive as we navigate the terrain of the present.

But don’t get so bogged down in the past, in the memory of how things were or who you used to be, to lose sight of what you have before you.

Every single day is an opportunity for redemption.

When the sun rises its rays wash away the cold of the night and usher in the warmth of new life. It illuminates the path forward, to be taken one step at a time with the faith that God will be there with us, holding our hand through the process of renewal. Every day we have this opportunity to become our best self.

Redemption stories aren’t reserved for news clips and made for TV movies. We have the opportunity to enjoy our own personal redemption every single day.

Seize it. It is yours for the taking.