Melissa wakes up each morning wondering how did she get to this confusing place. Everything, it seems, has come to chaos; yet she knows that it’s been years of not dealing with issues, or being so busy, she hoped that would solve the constant remembering.   She is disappointed in herself that the years of Bible Study and education seems to not be enough to solve this one.  One day while driving to work, she hears this song on the radio that describes how she feels inside, and it makes her uneasy.  As she sits there listening to Martina McBride sing Independence Day angry tears flow.  She is scared of her anger and the depths of her pain.

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning.
Let the weak be strong,let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It’s Independence Day.

She thinks in her mind what her day of reckoning would be? Who in her life story would she invite to this play/drama, place them in their roles and scenes, so she could re-write history.  What she had no control over as a little girl, she wants complete control now.  Where she was powerless, she wants to be the one in power.  She imagines her weak moments made strong, and those who were guilty would have a do over, a day of reckoning.

At church that Sunday Melissa brings a heavy mind and heart to worship, but she’s so glad she’s there. Of all places in her life, this is the one place, especially worship time, in which everything in her heart and mind has the opportunity to cry out to God.  She can be real and honest in her mind as she prays and simply asks God the hard questions, “God what am I going to do with all this?”  “God, where do I put it?” The praise team is singing over and over again this line, “I’m going to worship You forever!  I’m gonna worship you.”  “Oh God in light of eternity with You and Your love, my situation will be redeemed, perhaps forgotten, and no longer a heavy weight.”  For some odd reason, God brought to remembrance Melissa’s theme song for the week, and it seemed that the tune of the worship song flowed rather well with Martina’s song. “Yes, Jesus – Let Your freedom ring! Let your white dove of the Holy Spirit sing over us.  Let the whole world know, Jesus, that this IS the day of reckoning.”  

Leaving worship to attend a class, a man quickly approaches them, and asks Melissa and her family if they had just been in worship. Normal pleasantries are exchanged but suddenly Melissa knew in her Spirit that this man had come over to deal with some of the baggage she brought to church.  Maybe he sensed this heaviness, but He listened to the Spirit and ministered.  He wasn’t afraid to get involved or too busy.  This man who was taller than an oak tree and presented just as solid in his love for Jesus wrapped his arms around Melissa and she melted.  Melissa knew the danger of starting to really cry, you may never stop.  Conscious of her surroundings and a class to attend, she and her husband surrounded in the huge loving arms of this man asked for prayer.  As both of their heads were nestled on his chest, he prayed, “Dear Jesus just as you taught Peter to walk on the water, will you elevate this family, and teach them to walk on the water with You?

“Elevate us?”  Melissa wondered how this man knew that she was buried alive in memories, anger, and years of not dealing with junk?  What a miraculous change it would be for Melissa to feel that her family was walking on water – elevated!  Not a materialistic, successful elevation, but a life filled with peace, joy, and healing.  What would it be like to be completely healed? 

Would the day of reckoning make it right?  Would the guilty brought to justice make it disappear?

Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:22

The Day of Reckoning has already happened!  The guilty did pay – through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! It was our sins that led Him there.  As a result of this Day, He has brought us into His own presence!  Just like the arms of that man wrapped around us, God is wrapping Himself around our family!  Melissa wonders how her life could be seen as blameless, without a single fault?  She thinks that her mind should linger there, and continuously claim this promise from God. 

Melissa is reminded of her human nature, and still wrestles with confusing questions about her past and future, but remembers a favorite passage in Romans chapter 5:

1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^a have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^b rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we^c also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

6You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

We have now received!  We may feel powerless yet God is all-powerful in us.  He has already given us the Day of reckoning, and we are reconciled through the work of Jesus’ love displayed on the cross.  All of this was done at “just the right time”.  God is never early and never late – He works in our lives in His way, in His timing, and Has a plan for us.

Yes Martina, the stone was rolled away over 2000 years ago, and the guilty did pay, but it was on the back of Jesus,  who loves us beyond what our mind can comprehend.  Melissa decides that a lifetime this side of heaven getting to know the One who loves her that perfectly is a good place to rest.