I Am Redeemed by God’s Amazing Grace
By grace, I am redeemed from feeling forsaken and abandoned, and you can be redeemed as well!
What does “I am redeemed” mean? To answer the question, let us start by looking at a way to describe feeling forsaken and abandoned.
If you look at my family’s Facebook pages, you might think that we have a storybook picture with tight-knit relationships. This perception is far from the truth. The truth is that I am redeemed from feeling forsaken and abandoned by that same family on Facebook.
Just about every person I know has felt left out from a family, friend group, work environment, or church at some point in her life. If you have ever been left out before, then raise your hand. Yep, that is everyone!
There is no better way to explain feeling abandoned or forsaken than to use the term left out.
Being left out can be a small act, such as accidentally overlooking a co-worker for lunch. Even when it is an accident, it is still hurtful. I have accidentally left others out, but I try my best to make amends and think of others. I have also been on the receiving end of being left out.
However, leaving someone out causes wounded and hurt feelings.
Being left out can also bring a deeper wound to a person. For example, when parents abandon a child, they forsake and leave that child out of their lives. Being abandoned or forsaken by a parent can cause a deep-seated wound.
The problem with deep-seated wounds is that those wounds provide a filter for the way you look at other relationships, which is not healthy. Feeling forsaken and abandoned are the symptoms of those deep-seated wounds.
The good news is that, by grace, I am redeemed, and you can find redemption in Jesus Christ as well.
Hagar
I wish I could say that I have spent most of my life identifying with the Bible character Sarai. However, I feel more like Sarai’s slave, Hagar.
In Genesis 15, God promises Abram an heir, a child of his own. Abram and Sarai are married, but they face the challenge of infertility, especially because Sarai did not conceive until she was ninety years old.
Sarai gives her slave, Hagar, to Abram to conceive a child for her in the face of infertility. Hagar does conceive a child, but then Sarai begins to despise and reject Hagar. Sarai abandons and forsakes Hagar. Then, when Sarai takes her negative feelings to Abram, Abram also abandons and forsakes Hagar.
The abandoned and forsaken Hagar runs away, but God shows his love for Hagar by sending her an angel to give Hagar a lasting promise of descendants too numerous to count. God redeems Hagar’s feelings of abandonment and forsakenness by acknowledging Hagar.
Genesis 16:13 says, “She [Hagar] gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.'”
What does “I am redeemed” mean?
When you accept Jesus Christ as your savior and pursue a relationship with Him, then you become a new creation in Christ. Then, you will be able to say, “I am redeemed” through
- Jesus Christ and His work on the cross
- God’s presence
- God’s promises to you
Jesus Christ redeemed us on the cross, so I am redeemed.
When Jesus died on the cross, the temple curtain was torn in two and completely open us to a relationship with Father God (see Matthew 27:51). Jesus redeemed us on the cross by reconciling us to a relationship with a loving Father in heaven.
Colossians 1:20 says, “And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Christ died on the cross to bring each of us peace in our relationship with a God who loves us.
I am redeemed through God’s presence.
We see the importance of God’s presence after David sins with Bathsheba. David begs God, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalms 51: 11).
God’s presence is the place of peace and healing.
Christian, no matter what has happened to make you feel forsaken and abandoned, God never left you through the entire ordeal! It is not God’s will for you to experience trauma or forsakenness. God was with you through the entire ordeal. Ask him to show you where he was during that season or experience in your life, and God will show you that he never left you nor abandoned you.
I am redeemed through God’s promises.
God promises in the Bible that he will never leave us nor forsake us. The most important aspect of a promise is trusting and believing that the promise is true. Old wounds will trick us into believing that God’s promises are not true, but we must keep ourselves in God’s presence to believe that His promises are true.
Deuteronomy 31: 8 NIV says, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.”
I am Redeemed Bible Verse
“This is what the Lord says–your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.'” ~ Isaiah 48:17 NIV
Friend, know you are redeemed by the Lord God Almighty, your Redeemer.
Jesus redeemed us on the cross, and God continues to use the Holy Spirit to redeem us through his presence and promises. We must remain in His presence and trust his promises. By grace, I am redeemed!