Redeemer in the Ruins
Psalm 107:2 — Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.
I grew up knowing that music wasn’t just something you did. It was something that lived in you.
In my family, music ran deep. Little Richard. Bessie Smith. Names people recognize. So it was no surprise when folks assumed my sisters and I would sing too. That part felt expected. Almost scripted. What didn’t feel expected happened one day at church, when a family friend pulled me aside and spoke words to me that really resonated.
He said God would take me around the world singing for Him and that He would give me “songs in the night.”
At the time, I smiled politely and tucked those words away. I cherished what he said though I didn’t know what to do with them. “Songs in the night” sounded deep and meaningful. Encouraging, but vague. It wasn’t until much later—much, much later—that I understood what he meant.
After high school, I went to Bible college in Dallas. That’s where I met the man who would become my first husband. From the outside, everything looked right. Ministry. Marriage. The next step. But before the wedding day ever arrived, something had already gone terribly wrong.
By the time I stood at the altar, I didn’t have the heart to tell my parents this man had already hit me.
So I didn’t tell them.
For the next three years, I lived inside the cycle of domestic violence—the apologies, the promises, the fear, the shame, the silence. I kept thinking if I just prayed harder and loved better something would change. Instead, the darkness closed in. I questioned every decision I’d made. Some days, I questioned whether I wanted to keep living at all.
Night has a way of doing that. It shrinks your world. It convinces you that this is all there is.
In those nights, when I begged God for mercy, I didn’t hear an audible voice. What I received—unexpectedly—were songs. Other people’s songs. I found songs whose lyrics carried hope when my own words couldn’t.
Music became the place where light still found me. And slowly, I realized God wasn’t absent in my darkness. He was right there with me.
Eventually, I got out of that abuse. I also made a vow to God that I would do things differently. I meant it with my whole heart. But patterns don’t break overnight. I found myself in another relationship that led to a second marriage. This one was not marked by fists, but by betrayals.
Betrayal after betrayal. Things no wife ever wants to discover.
And once again, nighttime.
This time, though, something shifted. In this night season, I began to write—not for an audience or for radio—but to survive. I wrote the words of truth found in scripture as I was living it. And in the middle of that broken season, doors opened I never planned for.
A record deal, an album, and one song in particular that rose straight out of that place of pain called “Redeemer.”
I didn’t write it because life was good. I wrote it because God was still faithful when life was hard. I knew that my redeemer lives and he meets us right where we are.
Scripture gives us all the challenge to tell of all our redeemer has done for us. It says in Psalm 107, “Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those He redeemed from the hand of the foe.”
That verse is an invitation to speak out about ways God has delivered you and about things you still believe He will deliver you from. From night into morning.
Those songs I was promised didn’t come in spite of the night. They came because of it.
If you’re walking through a season where the light feels far away, know this: God still sings over His children. And sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is tell your story. You don’t have to be someone who has it all together but just someone who knows they have been redeemed.
— Nichole Mullins
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
- In what ways has God met you during a “night season” in your life?
- Are there parts of your story where you can now see God’s presence, even if you couldn’t at the time?
- What has God redeemed you from—or what do you trust Him to redeem you through?
- How has God used music, Scripture, or another unexpected gift to carry you when words were hard to find?
- What might it look like to gently and wisely share your story of redemption with someone else?
- How does knowing that God is faithful in the darkness change the way you face your current circumstances?
L Y R I C S
Who taught the sun?
Where to stand in the morning
And who taught the ocean
You can only come this far
And who showed the moon
Where to hide till evening
Whose words alone can
Catch a falling star
Well I know my Redeemer lives
I know my redeemer lives
All of creation testifies
This life within me cries
I know my redeemer lives
Yeah
The very same God
That spins things in orbit
Runs to the weary
The worn and the weak
And the same gentle hands
That hold me when I’m broken
They conquer death to bring me victory
Now I know my redeemer lives
I know my redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life within me cry
I know my redeemer
He lives to take away my shame
And he lives forever I’ll proclaim
That the payment for my sin
Was the precious life He gave
But now he’s alive and there’s an empty grave
And I know my redeemer, he lives
I know my redeemer lives
Let all creation testify
Let this life within me cry
I know my redeemer
I know my redeemer lives (I know my redeemer lives)
I know (I know my redeemer lives)
I know that, I know that, I know that, I know that, I know
I know my redeemer lives
(Because he lives I can face tomorrow)
He lives, I know, I know, I know
He lives, he lives, he lives
(I spoke with him this morning)
He lives, he lives, he lives
(The tomb is empty)
He lives, he lives, he lives
(I’m gotta tell everybody)
