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I am Redeemed

You set me free.
I don’t have to be,
That old man inside of me.
I’m not who I used to be.
Thank God, I’m redeemed.

I’ve loved this song since it was released. The simple truth I so often forget. I am redeemed. It’s basic. Essentially basic. But why can’t I remember?

So often I find myself slipping into my version of “that old man.” I listened to a sermon awhile ago and the pastor talked about how everyone goes through times of desert. Then he started talking to me.

Just make sure you aren’t keeping yourself in the desert any longer than you have to.
Longer than you have to.

The phrase played in my mind like tacky wordart. Big, bright letters swirling into sentences. Into meaning. Into my life.

I don’t have to be like that. I don’t have to do that or hide there. I am redeemed. Bought back. Made better.

Set free.

Don’t keep yourself in that desert any longer than you have to be there.

There is a special kind of grace in this remembering. I get to realize all over again how thirst-quenching this life-giving grace truly is. And as frustrated as I get with my lack of memory, I’m learning maybe it’s part of a gift. Not the forgetting, but the journey back.

The sanctification of a life. The joys of getting it and stumbles of missing out. But all of it combined to the learning of holiness. To coming to an understanding that I am indeed set free.
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