I heard a song yesterday (one of my favorites actually), but yesterday when I listened, it literally did what the lyrics describe — It took me back to the time I met Jesus, not the time I said a prayer or was baptized, but the time I truly understood and experienced His love, grace, and forgiveness in my own life. It was a time when the complexities of Christianity became, for me, a simple reality through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

God is no longer distant to me, He’s near to me through the person of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. He saved me, redeemed me, and set me free from the bondage and burden of sin.

In this world, there are a lot of decisions vying for our immediate attention, but yesterday as God took me back through this song to the most important decision I’ve ever made, He nudged me to simply share about it with you, too. So, I’m inviting you to simply push pause in your day, stop scrolling, and give me just a few minutes to tell you about this life changing decision that requires your undivided attention.

And the song that prompted it all and literally took me back — “Take Me Back” by Meredith Andrews.

The lyrics are simple, but their meaning is quite profound, and it stirred up something my cynical and sarcastic heart needed to feel. This heavy and hurting world has a way of making us all a little callous and cold — numb and maybe even naive to the false narratives it’s insisting we believe. Sarcasm and cynicism are my go to coping mechanisms, but unfortunately they have no power against the real enemy.

Only Jesus, the son of God, sent to save us. He alone holds the authority to rescue us from the enemy. He has our back. He can’t wait to take us back.

Take me back to the day I met You

When my dead heart came alive

I was running but You came chasing

You couldn’t wait to take me back

God longs to “take me back.” He longs to “take you back,” too.

You see, we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We literally, because of our sin, are separated from Him...spiritually dead. And as long as we go our own way, do our own thing, live by our own worldly standards, we stay separated from God.

But...

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” ~ 2 Peter 3:9

A price had to be paid. A way had to be made.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~ Romans 6:23

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” ~ John 14:6

His great love was manifested in His amazing grace.

As I reached the chorus of the song, the tears started to flow a little more freely as I was reminded of my freedom in Christ made possible by the power of Gospel...