Redeemed!

God has been teaching me SO very much about His love for me.  I've been searching for a symbolic piece of jewelery to wear to remind myself of His love and His power in my life.  It had to be something special, but most of all I wanted it to reflect the beauty of HIM in my life, His active presence with me.

I have so many things in my past that I thought were insurmountable.  I have experienced things that have created a bondage which I assumed could never be broken and would be life-long. Perhaps some day, I will have the courage to share those things here.  But for now, it's enough to say that I was walking through life with a very noticeable limp.

But God recently freed me from one aspect of this bondage.  And I want to remember it forever.  He's been showing me so much about His redemptive love which not only restores but also uses my brokenness.

My husband recently attended an apologetics conference in North Carolina and he brought back a bracelet which has captured my heart. It has become to me, a perfect representation of what Jesus has done in my life.

This beautiful bracelet was sold by a ministry called Rahab's Rope.  Rahab's Rope seeks to help women and girls who have been forced into the sex trade in India.  These ladies can come to RR and experience safety and the love of Jesus.  Here, a woman is given an opportunity for education and is taught a trade in order to provide a living for herself. 

This bracelet was created by a woman at Rahab's Rope. It is made from pieces of broken glass bangle bracelets, popular among Indian women and girls.  What a beautiful picture!  Glass bangles that were worn and broken, tossed to the side, forgotten, seen as useless and worthless have now been transformed into art.  Each bracelet is different, with its own set of stories and its own tragedies.  But the pieces come together to form a thing of beauty.  Think for a minute about the women who have worn these bracelets.  If those bangles could talk, would they share horrific stories?  Would they tell of hours in worship of false gods? How many tears and laughs have they experienced? How did it get broken?  The history behind each bangle is just as unique as the stories of each woman at Rahab's Rope...just as unique as my story and your story.

The thing I love about it is that you can still see the broken pieces!  The Bible says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.  I have spent so many years trying to hide my past thinking that would be the way in which I would be a new creation.  But one thing I've learned from the Daniel Bible study by Beth Moore, is that He doesn't want to wipe away my past. He wants to use it for greater things in my future. He has redeemed my past. He has a unique purpose in that redemption.  As with this bracelet, the broken pieces, when sealed together, make for a breathtaking piece of beauty. 

The description of this bracelet on the website is "a recycling project with stunning results", but I rather prefer the phrase, "a redeemed project with stunning results."  That's how I want Jesus to describe me!