Sally Roe Letter from Frank Peretti's novel "Piercing the Darkness."

from Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti. pg. 333-334.

Tom, I am free. I could just see that Cross so clearly, just as it must have looked on that bare, forlorn hill two thousand years ago, and I was flat on my face before it, so weighed down with my wrongs, my boasts, my choices, my SELF that I couldn't rise an inch. All I could do was lie there, admitting and confessing everything and reaching out to that rough-hewn piece of wood like a drowning man reaches for a lifeline, and grabbing hold for my very life.
And how can I describe it? I apologize, but the words will not capture the experience: I had nothing to offer Him, no incentive at all for Him to forgive me, not the slightest item of value with which to barter or cajole. All I had is what I was.
But he accepted me. I was so surprised, and then relieved, and then, with the steady realization of what had happened, ecstatic! My offering--nothing other than myself, Sally Beth Roe, pitiful, failing, and wayward--was accepted. I was what He always wanted in the first place, and He received me. He lifted the load from my heart, and and I could feel it go; I could just sense it all drawn away from me and rushing ut to that Cross. I felt so light, I thought I would be carried away by the slightest breeze.
I was able to raise my head, and then saw the closing of our transaction: a trickle of blood running down the wood and puddling on the ground. The payment. Such a gruesome sight, such a discomforting thought, but really, to be honest, quite appropriate considering what Jesus, the Son of God had just purchased.
I am free. I am ransomed. I've never felt this way before., like a slave set free who was born a slave and never knew what freedom was like.
I want to get to know this Jesus who has ransomed me. We've only just met.
"Sally lay her pen down on the small motel room desk, and wiped some tears from her eyes. She was still shaking. Just beside her notebook, a Gideon Bible lay open to the Gospel of Matthew,chapter 11:
'Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'"