(2 minutes, 9 seconds)
The customer service gal caught my fancy with her bright yellow blouse, paired with a bright yellow hair bow that matched a pair of bright yellow glasses, completing her cheery ensemble. Her attire matched her upbeat personality. I couldn’t help myself: “I love your glasses!” I actually loved her whole look, but I didn’t want to come off as creepy. Her bubbly response was nothing short of what I would have expected for a gal dressed so perkily.
As she happily worked on my item return, the man in the line next to us suddenly boomed out, “I can only IMAGINE!” Without missing a beat, my canary-clad clerk said, “I LOVE that song!” (referring to I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard, the lead singer of the Christian rock band MercyMe). I smiled at her and offered, “I like that song, too.” She peered wide-eyed at me through her lemony glasses. “Have you seen the movie?” I told her I liked the movie and asked her what she thought of it.
“I didn’t like it,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Especially the plate throwing scene. It scared me and took me back to my childhood. That movie was exactly like my childhood.”
I felt my eyes welling with tears. Here we go, I thought. I’m only 20 seconds into a conversation, and I’m already plummeting to the depths of a stranger’s soul and empathy-crying.
After appropriate and heart-felt, I’m so sorry’s and that is really, really sad, I said to her with careful kindness, “That movie had such a redemptive ending. Can you see God’s presence and grace in your story?”
To my joy and to anyone in the line behind or beside me, she declared the goodness of God even through a devastatingly broken upbringing full of abuse. Her face alight with joy, she shared that God redeemed her dad; in his late 50’s / early 60’s, he became a Christian. In his later years, he was so transformed by Christ that he was unrecognizable compared to his earlier years. Not only was his life redeemed, but hers was as well.
“It’s never too late,” she stated confidently.
I can only imagine the painful details of some of her story, but what she shared boldly with me from the deep well of her life was enough for me to glean a few things that I’ve been pondering and wanted to share with you:
1. The wound can be the witness. The very thing that scared her (the plate-throwing scene) became the open door to declaring God’s faithfulness. Paul does this constantly. He boasts in his weakness because that’s where the power of Christ is most visible.
2. Redemption is not just personal. Her father’s transformation in later life didn’t just change him; it also had a redemptive effect on others who knew him, including his daughter. This is such a sweet example of the long reach of God’s grace! His grace can stretch backward into the damage others have caused and forward into adult children who were wounded.
3. “It’s never too late” is good theology. My sunshiny friend said, “It’s never too late,” as a confident witness to the wonder-working, redemptive power of Jesus in her dad’s life. Her confidence, our confidence, is in the same God who renamed Abram at 99, called Moses at 80, and resurrected a Savior who had been in a tomb for 3 days.
I wonder if there is a part of your story that feels unredeemed; like there is something in your story that you really want to be made right. The glorious and unshakable truth is that God can reach into the farthest corners of your story to rescue and ransom. For His glory. For your good and others’ good. It’s never too late for God’s redemption in your heart and story.
“O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” -Psalm 130:7