Deliverance to salvation : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

As a young girl in Sunday school, I made many "salvation bracelets" to help learn about the gift that God gave to us in his son Jesus Christ. The bracelets I made were a piece of leather rope with seven beads, each color representing a different aspect of Christ's gift of salvation. They were strung in the same order that they were given to us: black to represent our human sin, red to symbolize the blood Christ shed on the cross when He died for our sin, white for the forgiveness that came from Christ's death, purple to symbolize our salvation by God's grace alone, blue to signify our baptism by water, green to represent our life on earth, and yellow for the golden roads of God's kingdom in heaven. As we strung our beads, the teacher explained the importance of each and what Jesus' ultimate gift means for everyone on earth who believes in Him: salvation from our sins and eternal life in heaven with Him. Today I wear a different bracelet, made with Swarovski crystals and much prettier than the ones I made as a girl. But it still reminds me of the same thing: the sacrifice Jesus made for me because He loves me. This bracelet is the inspiration for my Honors Thesis, which is a dance concert of seven choreographed pieces, each to represent one bead on the bracelet. I have always been a Christian and all through high school I was very involved in youth groups and other church activities. Since starting college, though my faith has never wavered, I haven't had an active walk with God. This project has been the way back to that path. God has blessed me with a wonderful family, amazing friends, and so many gifts and talents. I hope that creating this project to put the focus back on Him will be my humble way of thanking Him for all those gifts and for my salvation.