Redeemed

I went to a bible study last night. At this new church I've been going to. It's attached to a coffee shop. And I went in there at about 5, just to chill, read, and drink hot beverages. I had no intentions of embarking on a bible study that evening. But I was chatting with a girl by the fireplace, and she told me about this study they were having at 6:30. Apparently they have it every thursday. I pretty much wrote it off when she told me about it. I had other things planned for my evening. I wasn't intending on hanging out there the whole night. Then 6:30 rolled around. And I was invited by a handful of people to join the bible study. So I agreed, reluctantly. Planning to only stay for a little while. ...I stayed the whole time.
Anyways...this isn't even what this post is supposed to be about. I wanted to tell you about something that hit me during our bible study. This was actually an adult bible study. But at 16, for some reason I didn't feel out of place at all. So we started with a question. If you could only use one word to describe yourself, what would it be? This is a very hard question. One word that sums me up? Who I am. Who I was. Who I want to be. I honestly didn't come up with my word until a few seconds before it was my turn to talk. But what my word was isn't really even important here. What is important...is everyone else's words. As we were going around the room...I was so interested in how various these words were. Some people chose to use a positive word, although we all have negative attributes. Some people chose to use a negative word, even though we all have positive attributes. The choices consisted of disciple, hard-working, self-aborbed, inquisitive, inconsistant, curious, passionate, and thoughtful. Now I am sitting with a group of what I would assume is made up of pretty strong Christians. We're all seeking God. We're all forgiven. And we're all showered in love. Why, then, does one person use the word "disciple" and another uses the word "self-absorbed"? That just simply puzzled me. Perhaps we are all disciples in some way. Or at least we want to be. And perhaps we are all self-absorbed in some way. We all tend to have bits of these qualities in us. But at what point does a word define you? When do you become, "MaryBeth - Disciple" or "MaryBeth - Self-absorbed"? How do you decide if a positive or negative word should be used to define you? The truth is....we are negative words. We are all many many negative words. We are utterly human. We are flawed. We are also postive words. We are many many positive words. We are beautiful creatures created in God's image. We are lovely. We are breathtaking. We are emotional. We make differences. We write poems and take pictures and encourage and love and help and give and dance and sing and worship! We are God's children. So now that I've had a bit more time to think about it....I would like to change my word. My word is REDEEMED. Redeemed implies that there was something broken. Something that was not right. Something needed fixed. Me. But that it has been made whole. It is beautiful. It has positive qualities. It can shine brightly. That makes me smile. I. Am. Redeemed. My Jesus lifted me out of the pit. He picked up my broken pieces and put me back together so that I could be a light shining brightly for Him. He. Loves. Me. And now I am new. And I am constantly being forgiven and made new again. I am infinitely redeemed. That is my life. That is who I am. I am broken. I am beautiful. I am redeemed.