redemption, not replacement
“I wanted to thank you for continuing to update your story and share your blog… it’s really encouraging… and it gives me hope…”
The message was unexpected, but I could identify with it. The gut-wrenching heartache of a broken relationship. The great disappointment. The embarrassment. The doubt. It’s been almost a decade since I’ve worked my way through those trenches, but I still vividly remember.
And that’s exactly why I share.
Not just the challenges of a decade ago, but the challenges that came well before then and the ones I’m facing now. Because God continues to comfort me. And it’s always my prayer that my words would give the same comfort to others that I, personally, have received.
But sometimes I fear others read my story and make the assumption that God worked all things out for my good, redeeming and working miracles, by allowing me to re-marry. A story of replacement of some sorts because that’s how we see redemption.
Like when I was a little girl and accidentally broke the neighbor’s window with a poorly aimed throw, and my parents paid for a new one. Or when my college roommate’s dog chewed up my favorite pair of red ballet slippers, so she bought me a new pair.
That’s redemption. Right? Taking what was lost, damaged, or stolen and returning something similar, if not the same.
It’s no question that God redeemed me, but it was not through marriage. God redeemed me in spite of it. And that, my friends, is the real miracle.
It was a miracle that He was able to take a heart that had been crushed beyond belief and put it back together without bitterness, anger, or hate.
It was a miracle that He was able to use someone who felt so rejected, tarnished, and humiliated.
It was a miracle that He not only healed my heart but helped me learn to trust, once again, without constant fear or suspicion.
And it was a miracle that He was able to turn my mourning into dancing and fill my mouth with songs of praise.
The redemption came as he lifted me out of the mud and mire and gave me a firm place to stand. The opportunity to re-marry was just the cherry on top!
God is in the business of miracles. Of healing and restoring and redeeming. But you never know what that may look like. More than redeeming your circumstances through duplication, God desires to redeem your heart through transformation. And a redeemed heart is always a miracle because that is something only God alone can do.
