Blogs by Linda Settles
Redeeming Our Treasures One Day at a Time
12/6/2008 7:27:41 AM
Redemption awaits!
Redemption is an interesting word, a word with multiple meanings. Some of the meanings listed in Merriam Webster include: to buy back, to free from captivity by means of ransom, to free from distress or harms, to atone for or to offset the bad effect.
From these definitions it is clear that redemption is costly. What will it cost the survivor who is set on "Redeeming Our Treasures?" It will demand a high price. It will take a toll on our time, our emotions, and our soul. We will revisit, as an adult, the traumas that victimized us as a child. We will re-experience some of the pain, but we will re-view that experience with the eyes of an adult--a child grown up-- a child grown wiser. It is then that we will discern that the shame we bear is not our own, and we will know that our sorrow is justified. We will gain the courage to face our losses and to grieve them. Only then will be be positioned for growth, for healing, and for maturity.
One decision at a time, one moment at a time, one victory at a time.
Redemption of our treasures will not happen instantly, but it will begin with a decision. It will begin when I decide that I must possess the gifts that my Creator bestowed upon me when he sent me into this world--gifts of love and trust, innocence, and confidence. Our treasures will not be the naive treasures of a child--no, they have been through too much to return to that state. They are the rock solid, tried and tested virtues of a person who has been through Hades and lived to tell about it. They will be the foundation upon which the survivor stands to tell her story to the world. Not a sordid acknowledgement of victimization and betrayal--though both of those elements may be present in it--but a story of redemption. A story of life reclaimed, of joy restored, of trembling stilled and love unbounded.
This is the quest to which we are called. If we have survived physical, psychological, sexual or verbal abuse, or neglect and/or abandonment, then we are made of metal that has been tried in the fire--and we need to discard the garments of our captivity and stand among the heroes of the faith--heroes who overcame every obstacle that blocked the pathway of their potential. We are no longer victims--we are victors and we will not be restrained! We will pursue the redemption of our treasures with fierce determination. We will become better,not bitter. Believers not be-littlers. Containers of God’s Glory and not carriers of man's contempt. By the Grace of God we will redeem our treasures, one moment at a time.
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December 2008 Blogs
• Redeeming Our Treasures One Day at a Time - Saturday, December 06, 2008
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