When I struggled on a hard road of life – a road where hardly a day went by without tears – a place where the silence was an unwelcome stranger, this is what I did; this was the basis for the strength to make it through: I went back in memory to where redemption became a reality and a new beginning for me. That place was the cross where I first believed—the stone-built chapel in Cardiff where I had said, “I believe this” and handed over the keys to my feeble life to the Great I Am, Jesus.
I knew back then, as I listened to the gospel message for the umpteenth time, that in these moments there was a supernatural clearing and connection of God’s Spirit to mine. I knew then that when I departed this human body I would without a doubt be held to answer for life’s most important question. So there sitting in a church pew and believing, I considered how I had always attempted to be true to myself and now here was that challenge again. Without emotion, I made my decision. Jesus had given Himself as a sacrifice so that all my wrongdoing could be forgiven – washed away. I could be renewed and live forever in paradise, the place of purity and beauty and holiness, where nothing undefiled could enter.
It was from this revisit that I reignited and reaffirmed the truth and my identity. I recalled many precious and special blessings that God had done in my life and in the lives of those met on the journey. I know the love of God, of His Holy Spirit with me, of the love and joy of Jesus in my heart. Yes, there were still tears but I had refuelled. I had inner strength. The Holy Spirit was with me. I was assured and signposts of heaven lined the hard road.
Then, on a rain-drenched evening in the place of the hard road, I saw a vision of the risen cross. This vision puzzled me at first because it was a second vision of the cross I had seen since arriving in West Wales, only there was something not quite the same in this second picture. Then I smiled as I realised the change: in the first vision the cross had been lying flat upon the concrete road between the houses where I was living; here it now appeared raised high above the concrete hill and the Tenby sea and town. Then heaven direct words and melody began to flood my mind, some of the verses of which I’ve shared, in what became a new revival hymn for Wales.
Selected verses from The Cross is Raised
The Cross is raised give God the glory.
The Cross is raised above a concrete hill.
Beyond belief, the love, the pain, still once again the Cross is raised.
The Cross is raised shout Alleluia.
The Cross is raised above a concrete hill.
For you and me look up and see that once again the Cross is raised.
The Cross is raised the power is given.
The Cross is raised above a concrete hill.
Come feeble flesh draw from God’s breath for once again the Cross is raised.
© Ruthie Thomas/Heaven Direct Music. Administered by Stainer & Bell Ltd
Seven-day challenge
If you need assurance or feel uncertain of your faith, could it be that your trust has been more in a denomination or group rather than the living Jesus? It is only true redemption at the cross that will give grounding and be a ‘taking-hold-of’ point in uncertainty. I took the seven-day challenge with my household and found it helpful to keep a diary. It was a joyful challenge and there was insight. On the first and second morning my husband played guitar to the hymn on CD and the atmosphere was noticeably changed to a peace-filled space.
1. Sing the hymn every morning for 7 days.
2. Meditate and revisit your redemption day.
3. Tell others your salvation story.
Find The Cross is Raised lyric video at heavendirectmusic.org. The sheet music is available in Ruthie Thomas’s songbook You Can’t Keep a Good Song Down, published by Stainer & Bell.
