Robbed To Redemption

There are so many keywords and themes God is putting in my path these days, I could blog a whole lot more if I had the time.

I'm quite taken with this revelation.

It's no secret or surprise Christians the last few years have been attacked. I know from 2003-5 I wasn't sure I'd survive the onslaught of loss and change. On the other side of those things I totally see the purpose behind those hard times. I'm stronger, and now I'm serving out of those broken places.

What I never thought about though was moving beyond the robbed. I know God had a plan for His glory in all those things, but I knew also the defeated one had a target on my back and wanted me down and out for good. So many people have been robbed of so many things by his tactics.

Here's the good news. Besides God using what satan intended for evil as God's glory, He redeems. For every financial hit, persecution, health crisis, all the hits that nearly knocked me out---I'm asking for 100 fold redeeming situation.

Not because God is Santa and I'm demanding tit for tat.

Because He is my Daddy and He wants to lavish on us, more than we can ever guess.

I'm already feeling the redemption. Despite everything around me in the news, there is a joy deep in my heart once I start to laugh I'm afraid I won't be able to stop. It is joy only God can give.

Are you living with a robbed mentality or redemptive?

Julie Arduini is a wife, mom and surrendering writer. Her personal blog, The Surrendered Scribe, shows her writing resume. A graduate of the Christian Writers Guild, she is also a columnist with Take Root and Write. She has a tentative story to contribute to the Jeanette Littleton book, GodSightings. Her verse for 2009 is Deuteronomy 11:11-12. She's a new columnist with the daily online newspaper, The Cypress Times.