Redeem: Five Minute Friday

It feels so good to wake up on a Friday morning and make time to join in on the weekly link-up with other writers for Five Minute Friday. This is a group of writers who write using the same prompt for five minutes flat. No planning. No editing. Just raw thoughts and words inspired by the common theme. This week the prompt is Redeem:

This week marks the anniversary of shutdown here in Ohio. While so much has changed since a year ago, and our current status as a nation seems to be on the upswing, it is difficult to entertain memories of what life looked like before all of this without a bit of grief. I’ve mourned this week (and also this year) when I think about all that we missed out on. Cancelled trips, broken traditions, and missed loved ones have piled on top of one another and created a nearly insurmountable obstacle. These things have stolen joy and threatened faith. But with this year behind us there are so many signs of God’s redemption on our lives.

Where mourning once stood there is now healing.

Where longing once lived there is promise.

Where sorrow once sat there is joy.

With each passing day we are closer to the end of this pandemic. We are seeing orders lifted as the number of those infected decreases. This is what redemption looks like–we are overcoming and life is moving forward.

Last night, I visited with my grandparents that I have hardly seen in a year. As they welcomed us into their home under the protection of both Jesus and the vaccine, I felt the redemption and restoration. As Grandma reached out to me for a hug I remembered all the days that I longed for that over the past year. Time was stolen from our relationship, but God is redeeming all that was lost and broken. It is not yet time to let down our guards, but it is time that life begin to move past this.

Thank you, God, for your faithfulness to redeem all that has been broken.

The Ameri Brit Mom