Hi Friends!
I am wrapping up my month in Lesotho and I’ve had so much fun! I seriously could cry thinking about leaving these kids!
On Sunday I am leaving for South Africa to debrief with my whole squad before heading to Swaziland. Please be praying for me and my team as we wrap up our months and begin traveling.
I also only have about $800 left to fundraise thanks to all of you amazing supporters! Click the link above in order to give a tax deductible donation!
In this blog I do go in to major themes of the book “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers so it’s only fair I give you a SPOILER ALERT!!!
Anybody who knows me knows that I love to read. When I was in the 8th grade, I moved to a different city where I didn’t know anybody and books became my friends. When I read, I devour books and Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers was no different.
Except, it actually was different.
For a long time, I’ve really didn’t like reading Christian Fiction, watching Christian movies, or even listening to Christian Radio. All of the stories that were told were always SO cheesy and unrealistic. I would look at my own life as a Christian and think, “Is there something wrong with me? Should my life be this perfect?”
But actually, thats the exact opposite of Biblical Truth.
1 Peter 4: 12-13 says, “Dear Friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange has happened to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
Thats why, when I read my first Francine Rivers novel, I knew immediately that it was different.
It was real, genuine life.
It was hard, it was beautiful, it was filled with Christ’s redeeming power.
There was loss, there was gain…and even some romance!
I was hooked even from the dedication. It read, “To those who hurt and hunger.”
The story of Redeeming love follows a girl named Angel, who, at 8 years old, was sold into prostitution following the death of her mother. As Angel grows up, prostitution is all she knows. Love does not exist to her. A man named Micheal sees Angel when she is out on a walk one day and he feels the Lord saying, “Her. I want you to marry her.” So Micheal does everything he can to get Angel to marry him but she would have none of it. He wants to offer her a better life, and he promises to love her.
Eventually, she does agree to go with him, but on multiple occasions she runs away, mostly because she doesn’t feel worthy of him. Every time, Michael goes and gets her and every time, he forgives her.
As time goes on, she begins to recognize Micheal as a man who loves her unconditionally and would do anything for her. Even when she decides to stay, she tries to sabotage their relationship by telling him about her past.
Angel decides to tell him about how her mother was also a prostitute. Angel says that when she was little, she liked rainy days best. Partly because, on rainy days, the men didn’t come as often. But also because Angel would put tin cans out and the clinking of the rain would be like her own private symphony. Angel proceeds to tell Michael about the worst things she has ever done. When she finishes, Michael says that he will be back shortly.
‘“He was hanging metal scraps, utensils, nails, and a worn horseshoe. Stepping down a ladder rung, he ran his hand along the line of things. ”Your own private symphony,” he said and smiled at her. Speechless, she watched him carry the gaffer back to the barn, She went back inside and sat down because she was too weak to stand.”‘
“She destroyed his dreams, and he built her wind chimes.”
When I read that, I bursted out crying in the middle of a coffee shop in Malaysia with every one around me looking at me like I was psycho.
Y’all. Don’t you know thats how your Father in Heaven thinks about you!!!
You destroy his dreams and he builds you wind chimes.
You mess up, and He forgives.
He redeems your brokenness, and calls you Beloved.
He bestows on you a crown of beauty, instead of ashes.
As time went on, Angel began to actually believe Michael. She began to love him and trust him.
But she also started to make him her own god.
She began to see him as the one who forgives and redeems. Michael read the Bible to her every night, and every night the seeds fell on bad soil. Angel never let the Word in to her heart. She had ears but could not hear.
On the night she truly decides to leave him, she yells out to him, “THOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.”
Michael wanted so badly to go after her. But he knew the Lord was saying, “Michael, it’s my turn. You were my vessel, but she must call ME her God, not you.”
I look back on my life so far and there’s so many things I have let become a god to me. Relationships I’ve put before the One, True God. Lies I believed about my self that took over my every thought.
What things have owned you?
Social media? Relationships? Your job? Your reputation?
Redeeming Love is based off of the book of Hosea and in Hosea it talks about letting go of the things that own you.
In Hosea 2: 16-17 it says, “You will call me your husband, you will no longer call me your master. I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips, no longer will their names be invoked.” The word “Baal” means “owner”.
Thats all the Lord wants you to do.
He wants you to invoke His name, instead of all the other things that take control of your life.
But He doesn’t want to control you either. As it says in the verse in Hosea, “you will call me your husband.” A marriage is a partnership. When you choose to follow the Lord, you make a holy covenant with Him. He wants to have a relationship with you.
But even if you haven’t decided to follow him, these things are still true. He will pursue you relentlessly. The fact that you are even reading this blog means he is pursuing you.
The Lord is the only one who can give you grace. There is nothing else in the entire world that can give you what you need. We need a redeemer.
Hiding is fun, but the TRUE joy is returning to the Lord.
“But I, the Lord Your God will save you.”
Hosea 1:7
