My Not-So-Radical Redemption Story

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

As I reflected on the message this week, Unqualified: Not Important Enough, I struggled to think of an engaging anecdote to share in the Midweek Encounter. My faith journey has been relatively uneventful, and this lack of radical life-changing testimony often makes me feel unqualified to share my story. I began to wonder, could God really redeem my “boring” faith journey and use it for His glory? And that’s when it hit me—even though I might not have the credibility of a radical transformation like Paul or Mary Magdalene, God still sent His Son to die for me. Even though my faith has been steady, I am still broken, lost, and in need of redemption. And rather than fearing that my story isn’t exciting enough, I want to share how God has been redeeming my story for His glory in the midst of a rather normal life.

I grew up knowing about Jesus’s death and resurrection, and I knew that I was a Christian at a young age. It didn’t take long for me to confess my faith in 8^th grade and publicly commit my life to Christ. I attended a Christian high school and surrounded myself with Bible stories, encouraging teachers, and constant reminders of my faith. I fell in love (or so I thought at the time) with a young man who was raised with the same commitment to faith as I was, and that’s when temptation kicked in.

In spite of our commitments to Christ, we fell into sexual sin. And that sin grabbed hold of my heart, convincing me that I was only whole and complete when I was with this young man. We dated off and on for a few years, constantly struggling to justify our sins by the love that we shared; eventually our relationship fell apart, and I was left broken. My identity had been torn to shreds, and I found myself a freshman in college, desperately searching for something that could make me whole again.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that God had been walking alongside me every step of the way. He had bigger plans for me than I ever could have imagined: I spent the summer working at a Christian camp in Colorado. If you know me, you know that hiking, living in a cabin, and showering with giant moths is definitely not my thing. But that’s where God called me for a summer and truly captured my heart again; He made me realize that I was only complete when I surrendered my heart to Him. He even gave me the strength to climb a mountain—literally!

When I returned home, I was renewed, but still had no idea quite what God had in store for me. That next spring, I began to date the man who is now my husband; we had been friends in high school and reconnected by chance (although things are never quite by chance with God). Ben showed me the kind of love that Christ had intended for a man and a woman to share; I couldn’t even believe that God had chosen such a generous, selfless, genuine, humble, hardworking, and loving man to be my husband.

August's baptism at Encounter on September 18, 2016

Fast-forward about three years, and God blessed us with our baby boy, August James. This part of the journey is just beginning, but I now know that God redeemed my heart to him so that I could love my husband and my son through the eyes of Christ. He truly is the Author of my story, one that might be fairly typical, but also one that ultimately drew me closer to Him. That’s the power of redemption—God can use anyone and anything for His purpose and His glory. Just as he used Mary Magdalene to share the news of Jesus’s resurrection, He also takes unqualified people and redeems them to shine love and light into the world—all for His glory!

How is God redeeming your story so that you might be a witness for the Gospel? Is he using your "ordinary" life to bring others into His kingdom? Pray that you might see how God is making you qualified to share the ultimate redemption story of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.

Colossians 1:13-14, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

[Megan Stephenson is a proud new mom to her almost four-month-old son August and spends her days trying to figure out how to take care of her tiny human. She also works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. Megan loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]