A story of hope

This is a story of hope.

This is also a story about two journalists who trespassed and were taken captive. Sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison. Separated from their families for 140 days.

But it's mostly a story of hope.

A story of never giving up. A story about fighting the good fight. A story of being rescued from captivity and restored to a life of freedom. A story of knowing that, against all odds, you belong to a greater story that will, that must, that has to prevail.

This is also story of amnesty, which is what Laura Ling thanked the North Korean goverment for granting her and Euna Lee.

Amnesty. From the Greek word amnestia (the same root as amnesia), amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent persons. It includes more than a pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense.

Amnesty. A word bursting with hope.

Never forget. We were once captives, enslaved by sin. We were hopeless. We were in a foreign land. We were separated from the one who loved us most. We deserved death.

But we have been granted amnesty in Christ Jesus. We have been restored. We are guilty no more, and

there

is

now

no

condemnation.

(Rom 8:1)

We are pardoned, and as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Ps 103:12).

Never forget your story of pardon. Your story of rescue. Your story of amnesty. Your story of hope.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners..."

Isa 61:1