We sang "The Old Rugged Cross" at church last night and it inspired me. It is the phrase "the emblem of suffering and shame" that got me thinking. Everything that God has used for His will has been an emblem of suffering and shame, mostly shame. (Christ born in a manger, dying on a cross, the sinful nature of the people of the Old Testament that were Christ's lineage, etc.) It is a very sobering realization.

I sat there at church filled with shame about my life and where I have been, choices I have made...long ago and as recently as that day. It is through that imperfection that God works. If I were perfect, I could not reach out to people. Often it is the shadows of my own sins that allow me to help someone else out of the reality of their sins. We are all crosses, so to speak, emblems of shame. I am embarrassed by the poor choices I have made, but through the blood of Jesus-I am unblemished. White as snow. I am a vision of perfection to my Heavenly Father because of the blood of Christ. That is a powerful thought! We live in a world that is full of shame. Under that shame is someone who hurts and is hurting. Thank you God for REDEMPTION! Thank you God for your ways that surpass our understanding. Thank you for allowing me, an emblem of shame, to be a part of doing your will on Earth. Let me never forget where I have come from, but thank you God, Let me never forget where I am going either.