Scars

Today I want to write about scars. Scars are something I know a little bit about. I have a scar on right my thumb from falling through a screen door, and a scar on my right knee from a pencil. I also have a very random chickenpox scar between my eyes. 

  

But, scars aren't just what you can see. 

Other than my knee and my thumb, most of my scars are on the inside. I have a colorful past. My past has left me with a lot of scars. Some of these scars I am aware of everyday, like the way I plan everything down to the last minute. Other scars I stumble across unexpectedly in the strangest places, like catching my breath when someone touches me unexpectedly. These scars that can't be seen are insidious. You don't know that they are there until you stumble across them. Then it is up to you to decide what you do with them. The important thing to recognize is the fact that wounds do not define you.

A scar is defined as a mark left by a healed wound or the lasting aftereffect of trouble. There is damage done prior to the formation of a scar. There is a wound that has to heal for the scar to form. Sometimes scars are ugly, in fact most of the time scars are pretty ugly. But scars do not define you. Scars don't make you any less beautiful.

These are things that I know in my mind. I know that my scars do not define me, but sometimes it causes me to pause. When I see my scars I see the pain, but I also see how far I have come. I wonder what people think of my scars. Do they notice when I step back and have to catch my breath? Do they think I am weak? Do they know how hard I have fought to get to this point? I know that it is hard to understand when you are on the outside. 

Your scars look different from mine. 

So what do scars have to do with Christianity? Jeremiah 33:6 says, "Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth." A lot of people think healing and they think only of the body. A scar is defined as a mark left by a healed wound or the lasting aftereffect of trouble. God is how we go from wounds to scars, and not just on the outside. But we have to let Him. We can't do it on our own no matter how hard we try.  Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Cast your burden on God, He can handle it.