Sacrifice?

A friend recently praised the "sacrifice" we made by leaving the US and moving to Europe 8 years ago.

Set aside for a moment the fact that we love what we do and where we live. I know what he meant--we left behind family, friends, Krystal, Little Debbie's. But did we really sacrifice?

A sacrifice means that you give up something of value in exchange for something of lesser value, for a greater good. In my arrogance, when I left Chattanooga 8 years ago, I thought I was making a sacrifice. I thought I was giving up something. I had much to learn.

The truth is that I have made no sacrifice. To the contrary, I have been blessed beyond measure.

I now see clearly that I was once in a pit, completely without hope, doomed to suffer the consequences of my decision to rebel against God. The Lord, solely on His own initiative and without any merit on my part, reached down into the pit and brought me out. He brought me out at no cost to me, but at great cost to Himself.

I like the way the hymn writer C. Austin Miles described my situation in In Thee Do I Live:

All that I am or hope to be,
O Son of God, I owe to Thee,
For Thou has bought me; I am Thine,
And by Thy mercy Thou art mine.

What could I possibly give as a sacrifice to the One who gave His very life for me?