Please Welcome Guest Author and Blogger A.K. Frailey –
Ann is graciously hosting for me this week – Please send her some love – www.akfrailey.com
Redemption
I’m always wondering how I got myself in the latest fix, even when the latest fix isn’t really my fault at all. Like when the power goes out, or the phones don’t work, or the water filters get clogged. I find myself wondering if I did something to deserve such a rough day. When I have actually done something wrong, I don’t always feel the consequences right away but somewhere inside of me, I just wait, knowing that it’s coming – probably when I least expect it.
I know a lot of good people, but I don’t know any perfect people, close maybe, but not quite perfect. And I’m rather grateful that I’m not standing alone in my imperfection. But even more, I am grateful that there is a way out of bad days and sin itself.
Bad days need to be lived through. Sin needs to be repented. Repentance comes at a cost. It usually breaks a person into pieces and then puts them back together again…better than they were. At least that’s how it usually works with me.
In the story of Ishtar’s Redemption, Ishtar is the son of Neb, a slave trader, who is enslaved by powers he neither understands nor controls. Ishtar sees what his father does to the innocent and something inside him breaks. He chooses another path. But he doesn’t really know where he is going to, he just knows what he wants to get away from. It takes all three books of The Deliverance Trilogy to fully tell the tale of Ishtar’s repentance and his eventual redemption. Because redemption is not just about getting away from sin, it is about embracing the hope of salvation. It is something bigger than Ishtar can conceptualize at first. It takes him a life time of experiences to glimpse that hope.
And in truth, it’ll take me a life time and beyond to fully grasp what God has promised me if I repent my sins, day by day, and cling to the hope that He will save me even from my worst self – if I let Him. We live in a very troubled world that is immersed in sin, broken, far from the God who made us, and loves us, and wants to save us. But in order to be redeemed – we must first repent. That’s the first step toward hope – even on the worst day.
If you would like to know more about Ishtar’s Redemption – Trial by Fire, book 2 of The Deliverance Trilogy, please check out the reviews on this website or on Amazon. Here’s the Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/1uidTWK
The Road Goes Ever On – A Christian Journey…
The Deliverance Trilogy
Georgios I – Hidden Heritage
Ann Frailey
Author, A.K. Frailey Books