Have you ever been somewhere unfamiliar and unexpectedly run into a friend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I live in Southern California and recently traveled to Michigan for a conference. It took only minutes to realize I\u2019d under-packed on cold weather gear. A Midwestern winter is not for the faint of heart! Speeding from one event to the next, I hunched my shoulders against the wind and tried in desperation to locate my position on a campus map. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cold, frustrated, and alone, suddenly I heard a deep voice break through the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHello, Courtney!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked up from my map, and my eyes met those of a dear friend from college, a writing buddy with whom I\u2019d lost touch years ago when we\u2019d moved to opposite ends of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKevin!\u201d I broke into a grin. \u201cOh my goodness, how are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a split second I\u2019d gone from unknown to known, a face in the crowd to a friend. He asked where I was headed, and when I admitted my geographical confusion, he held out his hand for my map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAh,\u201d he said, \u201cyour event is in the same building as mine. I know right where it is. Let\u2019s walk there together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The human story is one of lostness. We wander from the good path God has set before us. We choose self over others, wrong over right, and trouble over peace time and time again. And as we do, Jesus keeps calling to us, saying, \u201cLook up. Turn around. Mine is the good path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the story of the prodigal son, a father\u2019s younger son took his inheritance early and squandered it all in \u201cfoolish living\u201d (Luke 15:13). When a famine hit, he became destitute and realized he had nowhere to go but home. We read that he \u201ccame to his senses\u201d and then planned an elaborate apology speech (v.17). But before he could get one word out of his mouth, while he was still far off, his father saw him and ran to him. Embrace was instant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We, too, are invited straight into the arms of our Savior. In Isaiah, the prophet called out how there is no bar to admission, no prerequisite for love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.\u201d <\/em> In Christ, we go from unknown to known, lost to found, destitute to redeemed. The cost is steep, but he pays it all. The only thing He asks is that we\u2019d look up when He calls our name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s ready to walk together with us all the way home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever been somewhere unfamiliar and unexpectedly run into a friend? I live in Southern California and recently traveled to Michigan for a conference. It took only minutes to realize I\u2019d under-packed on cold weather gear. A Midwestern winter is not for the faint of heart! Speeding from one event to the next, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":71562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent2024"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71574],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"JOY THROUGH REDEMPTION<\/b> Have you ever been somewhere unfamiliar and unexpectedly run into a friend?<\/p> I live in Southern California and recently traveled to Michigan for a conference. It took only minutes to realize I\u2019d under-packed on cold weather gear. A Midwestern winter is not for the faint of heart! Speeding from one event to the next, I hunched my shoulders against the wind and tried in desperation to locate my position on a campus map.<\/p> Cold, frustrated, and alone, suddenly I heard a deep voice break through the wind.<\/p> \u201cHello, Courtney!\u201d<\/p> I looked up from my map, and my eyes met those of a dear friend from college, a writing buddy with whom I\u2019d lost touch years ago when we\u2019d moved to opposite ends of the country.<\/p> \u201cKevin!\u201d I broke into a grin. \u201cOh my goodness, how are you?\u201d<\/p> In a split second I\u2019d gone from unknown to known, a face in the crowd to a friend. He asked where I was headed, and when I admitted my geographical confusion, he held out his hand for my map.<\/p> \u201cAh,\u201d he said, \u201cyour event is in the same building as mine. I know right where it is. Let\u2019s walk there together.\u201d<\/p> The human story is one of lostness. We wander from the good path God has set before us. We choose self over others, wrong over right, and trouble over peace time and time again. And as we do, Jesus keeps calling to us, saying, \u201cLook up. Turn around. Mine is the good path.\u201d<\/p> In the story of the prodigal son, a father\u2019s younger son took his inheritance early and squandered it all in \u201cfoolish living\u201d (Luke 15:13). When a famine hit, he became destitute and realized he had nowhere to go but home. We read that he \u201ccame to his senses\u201d and then planned an elaborate apology speech (v.17). But before he could get one word out of his mouth, while he was still far off, his father saw him and ran to him. Embrace was instant.<\/p> We, too, are invited straight into the arms of our Savior. In Isaiah, the prophet called out how there is no bar to admission, no prerequisite for love.<\/p> \u201cDo not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> In Christ, we go from unknown to known, lost to found, destitute to redeemed. The cost is steep, but he pays it all. The only thing He asks is that we\u2019d look up when He calls our name.<\/p> He\u2019s ready to walk together with us all the way home.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"17","scripture":"Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 111:1-10, Luke 15:11-32, Ephesians 1:7-8","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2014Isaiah 43:1<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\r\nby Courtney Ellis<\/i>
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\u2014Isaiah 43:1<\/em><\/p>
\r\n
\r\n