Dear ones,
I discovered a new passion! My sister-in-law, Carolyn, sent me scratched and damaged childhood photos to fix with PhotoShop. These old black and white photos hold precious memories for Carolyn as they portray her and her cousin, born only hours apart. They grew up together and stayed close friends until Jolene passed into heaven at age thirty-two, leaving behind two little boys, ages six and four.

Of all God’s names, I especially love His title, “Redeemer.” But how can He redeem the loss of one so precious? I’m sure only heaven will tell, but redemption also portrays the very character of God here on earth. When we lift our losses to His throne of grace and ask Him to redeem those losses, He will. He promises to bring good and glory out of our pain, grief, and sorrow (see Rom. 8:28-29).

When I wonder how He can use seeming tragedy for good, I think of Don Moen’s words, “God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see; He will make a way for me. He will be my guide, hold me closely to His side, with love and strength for each new day; God will make a way.”

I entered the transformational process to restore these photos and sensed the pleasure of God. PhotoShop provides a variety of tools to restore photographs. The most magical is called the Healing Brush. How appropriate!

Restoring old, scratched, and damaged photos illustrates how God uses His “Healing Brush” to transform and redeem us and our losses. It comes totally from Him, and is nothing we can do for ourselves any more than a photograph can restore itself from the deteriorating effects of time, temperature, and humidity. Only the “magic” of technology can restore it. And only the miraculous and loving intervention of our Redeemer rediscovers our intrinsic value.

Today I worked to restore an overexposed photograph. Zooming in on it magnified the imperfections and damage, which brought another song to mind, “Search me, O God, and know my heart today, try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me. Cleanse me from every sin and set me free” (see Psa. 139:23-24). 

Applying the Healing Brush to every spot, blemish, and scratch on that photo is how God zooms in on every detail of my life, searches my heart, and exposes my offensive ways. A song by Graham Kendrick reiterates Psalm 130:3-4, “Lord if You mark our transgressions Who would stand? Thanks to Your grace, we are cleansed By the blood of the Lamb.” I also rejoice with songwriter and musician Michael Gungor, who writes, “You make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things out of us.” 

Carolyn also sent me another precious photo to fix—Jolene’s underexposed wedding photo. I found nothing in Photoshop or LightRoom to fully reveal those happy faces hidden in darkness. Those images never entered the camera lens in the first place. We lost the treasured photo, but the meaning still lives. We must expose ourselves to the light—the truth of who we are and who God is. Whoever does not come into that light remains in darkness. Forever. Even the radiant beauty of the bride and groom remains forever lost in this photo. 

When the Pharisees asked Jesus’ disciples why He ate with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick… For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mat. 9:11-13). If only… the self-righteous would humble themselves and allow the light to expose the truth, Jesus would heal them, too. Jesus only heals the sick and only heals sinners.

Job 40:13 says the faces of pride and wickedness are bound and hidden in the darkness—too proud to admit, confess, and come to the light. God alone knows what lies hidden in darkness (Dan. 2:22) and one day will expose the hidden motives of our hearts (1 Cor. 4:5). 

As I worked through this illustration, I wondered why it is so important to be cleansed and purified. Why can’t we just go about our ordinary lives and not worry about being so perfect? Good question, right? I know only God is perfect anyway, and He covers me with His perfection, so why bother? However, He knows we still need to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us so we can run with endurance the race set before us (Heb. 1:1-3). 

God created us for relationships, and our hearts remain lonely, detached, burdened, and insnared by sin without them. We can’t build relationships with God or people on our ability to appear perfect. The Healing Brush of Christ’s blood takes effect only by admitting and confessing our imperfections to God and one another. 

The Apostle John so beautifully answers my question about the need to ask God to search my heart and bring every imperfection into the light because then, and only then, will I experience a deep abiding relationship with Him and others, which is the very joy of life itself!

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).

So, dear ones, together with me, “put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption” (Psalm 130:7).