In the last two weeks our garage has become a storage facility for durable medical supplies. Various items that had facilitated mobility, comfort, strength and safety are now expendable.
Each of these supplies adequately served its purpose for the time and need required, but now, twelve weeks removed from the serious cycling accident that Mary experienced, they are unnecessary.
There is no disdain when we look at these items, rather gratitude that they have been redeemed for restored health. They have been exchanged for limbs that function and joints that work.
Tonight, as I did a quick inventory of the items in my garage my mind and imagination were transported to the storage facility that will exist beside the gates of heaven. Wheelchairs stacked in one corner, mats rolled up and stored neatly, hospital beds disassembled and lined up along the far wall, crutches over here, walkers folded and stashed, oxygen tanks arranged in another area.
These supplies that once provided valuable assistance are not being trashed, they’re being redeemed, traded, exchanged for the restoration that will accompany the culmination of our rebirth that comes through Christ.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
~ Isaiah 61:1-3 (ESV)
I can imagine as well, that next to the durable medical supplies there will be another storage bin; this one for the pain, and the regret, and the sorrow, and the fear, and the doubt. These too will be redeemed; in fact, transformed in ways beyond even my vivid imagination.
Unbounded, unfettered, unshackled, unbroken… sweet, sweet redemption. What glorious joy awaits.
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