That's amazing!

I was meditating on the word redemption this morning, and it was cool because the Lord brought to my mind an aluminum can, or a glass or plastic bottle. There are alot of redemption centers around this valley, and I see people walking down the side of the road because they are doing what is called canning. Then they take their collections to the redemption center and pick up a few bucks to eat or drink or whatever they do with it..just live!

Then I realized why He took me there. Before I met the Lord, I was a sort of can or bottle thrown out on the side of the road. Little did I know how much value I had until the day I met my precious Savior. Since that day, He has shown me how beautiful I am to Him, and what great things He can do with this dusty old bottle. I saw a couple documentaries about recycling, and again Poppa took me to those images.

The cans or glass or plastic have to go through some pretty rough metamorphoses when they first get collected. Shredding, and tumbling; heating and melting. It is a really good thing they don't feel anything cause it looks quite painful. Anyways, at the end of the documentaries, I was completely blown away by the things that came out of all that process. Out of the plastic, a company was making rolls of carpet, and back packs, and clothing if you could believe it. Out of the cans, of course they made new cans, but they used them for medical equipment, planes, and many other things that are made out of aluminum. The glass of course they made beautiful dishes, they used it again for medical devices, and jars for medicine. All I could say was: Wow! That's amazing! It was a very encouraging show that I think would be good for all to watch.

What happened to me through this time of meditation is that I saw myself as one who has been redeemed at the ultimate redemption center. I got picked up off the side of the road by Jesus, and though I have still went through some really rough times, He was right there with me, walking along side the conveyor, or the furnace, or the shredder, waiting for me to come out in such a state of readiness, that I was now ready to watch Him make me into something very beautiful and useful. Am I saying He put me through all those things..by no means. I am very grateful to have gone through everthing I did, as crazy as that may sound! I now see more clearly just how much my Jesus never leaves me nor forsakes me, and that despite everything, He will turn me into whatever beautiful thing He wants! I just get to rest in His arms, confident of His love for dusty old me. Now that's amazing!!!

'He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins - Colossians 1:13-14

Blessings...Lisa