God has been teaching me about redemption. I feel inadequate learning this lesson, but shame is a lie because we have grace.
Shame is a lie because we have grace.
Last night our squad mentor opened the floor for vulnerability. I’m not a fan of being vulnerable and opening up to others (let alone a room with over fifty people), but I found myself trembling and suddenly (and implicitly coerced by two people on my squad) I realized I was standing up and walking to the front of the room with 104 eyes staring right at me.
I looked at the floor the entire time as I let go of what had been weighing on me and holding me back over the last couple of months. Things I didn’t do, things I shouldn’t have done, things I could’ve done better, and things that I was too ashamed to admit to anybody. I stood up there in front of all of A-Squad, our leaders, and our mentors, and I was vulnerable.
And I found grace.
Grace is a hard concept for me to understand, because my whole life I have failed to give myself grace whenever I felt like I had failed my own high standards. But God doesn’t care about my standards because He loves me too much to condemn me for my shortcomings.
A few weeks ago, a teammate reminded me that there is no shame in life because Jesus died on the cross for that already.
Last night, in front of 52 people, I stood up with God-given courage, spoke up, and found grace.
Today, one of my squad leaders reminded me that shame is a lie. Guilt is a lie. We are free from those feelings because we have Jesus. We have grace.
Today, we also had the honor of Baptizing a woman who works at the hotel we are staying at for Debrief. She approached us last night asking us for prayer, and told us she wanted to get Baptized but had no set plans. There were many things she wanted to let go of in her life and she wanted to start her relationship with God anew. We asked her if she wanted us to Baptize her, and she said YES. Today, we all celebrated with her as she began her new life in Jesus Christ. Today, she was made new as we submerged her in water and she received the Holy Spirit and a new and clean heart.
Today, she was redeemed.
We are redeemed in Jesus Christ.
We are redeemed.
We are redeemed.
