Speaking scars

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

At times I am witness to people recovering from surgery. Every surgical procedure comes with scares or even abrasions as I have a scar from years ago that came from falling off my bike that still reminds me of the incident that occured more than 15 years ago. Every time I look at that scar, I reflect on what happened and  the experience of the fall, the pavement winning over my body and the hurt that went along with it. I also have the opportunity in looking at the scar to be reminded that I survived, and made it through the hurt and have healed.  It also reminds me of the scars that Jesus took to set me and you free.

What life-giving words scars remind us of the hurt and healing at the same time. To get to that conclusion we must shift our perspective. from the healing that comes from hurt. When we have a shift in perspective toward God’s truth, it takes away the painful feelings about our experience. When we believe Truth, we are indeed set free just as Jesus said in John 8:31-32: 

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

Now, when I look at that scar, I think about the moments, the difficult, painful, soul-wrenching moments when Christ sustained me in the recovery/healing journey, and I think about His faithfulness.

I think about how He has spared my life so I can do more work for Him. 

I think about the precious, deep intimacy that has developed with Him, not in spite of what has happened to me, but because of what has happened to me.

That scar and all that has come with it has transformed my life and transformed me. The lessons have been profound, and I pray I never forget them. 

I wouldn’t have imagined that I could ever say this, but I’m thankful for the scar.

What has happened in your life? Have you experienced something tragic and hurtful that has left a scar on your mind, your emotions, or your skin? Accepting God’s perspective and His truth about it will set you free from the bondage of painful feelings about what happened to you and shift you to gratitude and joy.

Why? Because lingering, negative, painful feelings aren’t caused by what happened to us, although negative experiences are a doorway to emotional pain. However, emotional pain that won’t go away comes from how we internalize and view what has happened to us. (Read that again. That’s an amazing truth right there!) Praise God. He gave us painful emotions as red lights on the dashboard of our hearts to alert us as if to say, “Hey! There’s something here that needs God’s truth applied to it so that you can be emotionally healed and set free.” 

Many times, we believe it’s the experience that hurt us that we need to get over. We believe we need to overcome it somehow and go back and fix it. But what we really need is to change how we view what happened to us to be set free. We need to accept God’s truth. When we embrace His perspective, nothing about the experience that hurt us will change. But how we see it, will and that will lead to liberty. 

Ask Jesus to show you His truth about your painful experience, and the scars that came from it. Once you get His perspective, you’ll be able to consider what happened without debilitating pain, regret, or deep sadness and say, “Thank you, Lord, for what you have done in me and in my life, not in spite of my scar, but because of it. I’m thankful for that scar. How I praise you!”

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isaiah 61:1).