As we near the end of this book, I’m getting closer to my 58th birthday. I can’t really believe I’m this old until I remember all the stories of my life—and then the years really do add up to the present reality of 57 almost 58. In those stories, there is lots of evidence of God’s redeeming power in my life, His transforming work in the broken, ugly chapters that somehow now form a story full of His grace, mercy, forgiveness and power. “Redemption promises not replacement—a wholly new creation imposed on the old—but a transformation that somehow makes use of all that went on before….in the end evil will serve as a tool for good.” (page 166)
If you are like me, you will be caught by the beauty of this week’s scriptures as you read what Mimi and Shelly have written. My favorite was the passage they quoted from the Message in Romans 8:1-3. “With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all.”
This week, let’s give praise and thanks to our God for His transforming work in our lives. Please share a testimony from your life of God’s amazing ability to take a shipwreck—something broken, and turn it into something beautiful that brings Him praise, glory and honor.
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