ONCE UPON A TIME

STORIES OF REDEMPTION
¹⁶ Come and listen, all you who fear God;
     let me tell you what he has done for me.
Psalms 66:16 (NIV)

A quiet fell upon me as I sat looking around the living room of my home.  Marc and I had lived in this very house for thirty one years.  Our daughter Elizabeth was 3-years old when we moved in and our son Josh had been a mere baby of 18-months.  Now they were both in their thirties and married with families of their own.

It seemed to me that the walls suddenly whispered the story of our lives within this house.  We recently celebrated thirty five years of marriage and all but three of those have been lived out within these walls tucked on the corner of Silk Tree Lane.

My thoughts drifted back through the years to slumber parties, Mickey Mouse pancakes, games of catch in the backyard, scraped knees, chickenpox, first bicycles; the first days of school, graduations and wedding plans.  Our kids had grown up here and now the rooms echoed with the voices of our grandchildren.

We had known lean times and times of plenty, times of sorrow and times of great joy, times of lostness and times of being found, times of darkness and times of light, times of enslavement and times of being set free, times of betrayal and times of forgiveness, times of brokenness and times of healing. This house is more than stucco and tile; it is more than a place to hang our hat at the end of the day.  Within these walls the story of our life together has been written: a story of redemption.

These thoughts reminded me of Paul’s words to the believers in Corinth.

⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The words brought to light the ugliness of our sinful state.  Oh, but this was not the end of the story.  I read on…

 ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians  6:9-11 (NIV)

 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
     tell of all his wonderful acts.
Psalms 105:2 (NIV)
²³ Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
     proclaim his salvation day after day.
²⁴ Declare his glory among the nations,
     his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
1 Chronicles 16:23-24 (NIV)

Why should we tell the story of what God has done?  Is it because of us?  Is it because of this earthly house?  No!  The reason we tell the story of what God has done is…

²⁵ For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
1 Chronicles 16:25 (NIV)

My thoughts turned to my heavenly Father’s house, the one with the many rooms spoken of by Jesus in John 14:2.  I imagined what it would be like to be there.  To sit within those heavenly walls and talk with Abraham, Noah, Joseph, Joshua, David, Peter, the woman caught in adultery, John, Paul, Amy Carmichael, and Corrie ten Boom, to name a few.

Their stories echo through the streets of gold.  We will understand that the stories of the redeemed do not stand alone, but each is woven into the THE STORY of the REDEEMER who gave His life as a ransom for many.  What a story!  We will never tire of hearing it and we will have all eternity to turn the pages and hear it spoken.  For it is a story of redemption, of the redeemed by the Redeemer:  Jesus.

Dear one, come.  Come and listen.  Let me tell you what He has done for me.  You see, it is a story to be told with children and grandchildren nestled on your lap or shared with a stranger in need, or with believers.  For we are told in Scripture to tell of the great things He has done, lest we forget.  It is a story of what was once upon a time, but I have been washed, I have been sanctified, I have been justified and made new.  It is a story of redemption.

Later, as I drifted off to sleep, I thought I heard a song and it seemed to be coming from heaven and my heart sang along.

I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and his glory,
Of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story,
Because I know 'tis true;
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do.

[Refrain:]

I love to tell the story,
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
'twill be the old, old story
That I have loved so long.
[Refrain]

An Original Conversations at the Well
© Copyright by Diana Morgan, August 18, 2012