Redemption: recovering what once was lost

Redemption - the word that has been on my mind for this upcoming year.

Again and again this theme shows up in the everyday mundane things of life. God repeatedly shows me that He can redeem a person, place or situation in ways I could never imagine. Activities I had given up as a lost cause, dreams I had buried, relationships that seemed hopeless, and places I thought I could never return to -- all redeemed and made beautiful once more because of His abundant grace in my life.

Last year was not what I would call a wonderful year. While I learned much and I'm thankful for those lessons, I have no desire to repeat the circumstances involved. As (almost) everyone seemed to be advertising on Facebook how great 2014 was for them, I couldn't have been more relieved to see it disappear in the rear view mirror. Don't get me wrong, there are experiences I wouldn't trade for anything. I had a sister move to the same state, found out I am going to be an auntie at long last and established some incredible friendships in the past twelve months. But, there were many difficult times and hard lessons that had to be learned.

Looking back, I can see a lot of deaths in my life in the past calendar year. There was physical death; I attended too many funerals and watched so many others lose a loved one unexpectedly. There was death of dreams; things I had to finally loose my hold on and trust God with my future instead. There was emotional death; I chose to pull away and isolate myself from people for a period of time because I decided it wasn't worth the risk. And there were little deaths scattered throughout. Not all of them were bad though. There was the death of fear, pride and insecurity among the other deaths observed. 

And moving forward, I can see dreams rekindled, fears relieved, joy restored, purpose renewed, plans revealed and redemption woven throughout the whole story.

O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.

Psalm 130:7