Redeemed

I need the Lord--every day, every hour. There is not a moment I could live on my own, but even if I could, I wouldn't want to, because He is everything to me.

My hope is in God, and I know that I will not be shaken. My trust is in Him, and I will never be disappointed. I will not lack, because He satisfies. I will never be alone, because He does not abandon.

There is no good in me. I have not just sinned against Him a few times, but I cannot even number my transgressions. They are greater in number than the stars in the sky. Sin seems to be embedded in me. I cannot escape it.

Why should God love me, when I have so rebelled against His commands? Why would He have mercy on me? I look at myself and all I have done. And He has given grace?

Instead of giving me what I deserve, His righteous justice and wrath--He gave His only Son what He did not deserve. He was completely sinless, yet nailed to a cross. God loved Him, yet forsook Him. Jesus poured out His blood for me, He gave up His life. And all so that the sin I was chained to would lose its power, that I might be brought from death to life and reconciled to God. He was stronger than the grave, rising victorious. He ransomed me by grace. He gave me a new heart and a new identity. I belong to a new Master. I am adopted into His family, now a child of God.

I am blessed beyond words...that He chose me to be His. I am not needed, but wanted. Loved, forgiven, redeemed.