The Colors of Redemption
Canon 5D Mark ll, 50mm 1.2L, 1.5 aperture, 1/640 shutter, 100 ISO
I started my day today, as I often do, with a cup of coffee and my laptop open to Ann Voskamp’s blog A Holy Experience. I love reading Ann’s writing. I just finished her book One Thousand Gifts. I highly recommend it.
In her blog today there was a line that stood out to me in particular. She said, “When God gives you a redemptive story, He’ll ask you to live it’s truth out over again, in a thousand different ways, even when you think you learned this way already”. I read the line again, this time feeling a pang in my chest. Or was it my throat? Something inside me resisted this line. Still I felt truth emanating from her words. Yes, that is right, but what hurts here?
According to Webster, to redeem is “To ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and the like.”
To ransom. To rescue. The redemption is not what hurts. It is the things that God redeems us from that hurt. Their shadows casting long across our souls. I have my own redemption story. It hurts to think about it. Losing our baby boy nearly took me as well. But God rescued. God redeemed. I am here, and I love deeply, with more gratitude and color than I ever knew before. Every day is a gift.
When I read her line today, I said “yes”, and then “no” at the same time. “Yes, yes” to the beauty. And “please God, no”, to the pain. But they go hand in hand. The blood of Christ that redeems, saves, and restore us, mingles with our own, with our devastation, and reveals the beauty. Beauty wrought through pain is redemption. You cannot have the glorious color and depth of redemption without the need for it. A Saviour is only necessary for those who need saving. I need saving. Every day.
And so let those of us that have walked the paths of pain wear our colors proudly, these colors of redemption. Let the blues, greens and yellows mingle with the reds and may they shine from the inside out. Where there was darkness, let there be light and brilliance, shining for all to see. These colors are woven into our very selves, and beam like beacons to all that are hurting. They call out to the desperate that there is a God who heals. A God who saves. A God who rescues. A Redeemer.
Isaiah 63:6 ~”But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.”
Psalm 130:7 ~ “put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.”
Color upon Color
Tools of Grace
Beauty out of Pain
Show Your Colors
Giving into Grace
Painting Glory
Color Running Down
6 Comments
So very well said . . .
How do the wounds that marked devastation then magically turn into abiding beauty.
Only God knows . . . but God fully knows; for the marks of death upon Jesus, God chose not to erase. Now they glow as “markers” of love’s unfading proof.
I like how you think country girl.
Thank you so much for sharing your redemption and pain. I love the blog and the pictures but more than those i love the heart you share with us all. We are all blessed by you. I think sometimes that all art is wrought through pain. At least art worth sharing. God bless and heal in this life as we prepare for the next.
Thank you, Jerry for your kind comment. I like your thoughts here about art. I think it is true, just thinking back on some of the artists of old. Even David, the Psalmist knew pain as He wrote songs crying out to God. Thank you for stopping by my blog.:)
Love your words and I share your feelings. I love you.
So beautiful Mary Anne! And so, so true! We were just talking in my small group last night about this very thing, as a dear friend shared about losing her mom just two weeks ago. She talked about how she never realized that freedom- freedom to live and love fully- does not come without the price of pain and struggle. Thank you for sharing your beautiful art in writing and pictures! It inspires me and turns my eyes to Him, the Originator of it all. What a precious gift He allows you to give in His Name. Love-Kirsten
Found your website via a google search for images and must say, that your photography is beautiful, from one Maryann Morgan to another.