Redemption

Redemption Is the Story.

   So I wrote this earlier and never hit post..ugh..so here I go trying to remember what I wrote..It was really good too :) Anyways. Have you ever over thought something so much, imagined the worst and got yourself so worked up and fearful? I have and Jacob had years to do it wondering what Esau would do to him if he ever went home...And then he did go home and Esau didnt kill him, he ran to him and embraced him and welcomed him home....

    One thing I've noticed as we've studied through the New Testament and now through Genesis is that the Bible is a book full of redemption stories.Over and over again, people mess up.They make bad choices.

They act out of fear, impatience, pride, or pain.And yet God forgives.God redeems.God restores.

   Are there consequences? Yes. Do they wrestle with fear and worry afterward? Absolutely. Do mistakes change the path? Sometimes.

But God always offers a way back.He doesn't abandon people because of failure.He doesn't withdraw His presence because they stumbled.

    Instead, He draws them back.Back to Bethel.Back to the place of encounter.

Back to the shelter of His presence.Bethel was never about perfection it was about meeting God. It was where Jacob first heard God's voice, where God made promises before Jacob ever got it right. And when Jacob drifted, when life got messy and heavy, God didn't scold him He called him back to him.

     That's what redemption looks like.God doesn't erase the story, but He redeems it.

He doesn't pretend the hurt didn't happen, but He heals it.He doesn't say the consequences aren't real, but He says they aren t the end of the story. 

    The Bible isn't a book of perfect people.It's a record of a faithful God who keeps calling His people back to Him. And my story fits right in, i bet yours does too.

      And He's still doing that.He is Still drawing us back to Bethel. Still offering us shelter.Still reminding us that no mistake is too big, no season too broken, and no person too far gone to be redeemed.

Because redemption Is the story.

Love Pastor Mandy

Ark of Hope Ministry

Daily reading Genesis 33-36