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Oct 3, 2022

 

Recently I was talking to my cousin, who has become one of my closest spiritual journeymen over the past year, and he reminded me of a statement that was made within a sermon I had sent him. He referenced the fact that the message had said, “it’s ok to have scars. It’s the gaping wounds that are the issue.” As we continued discussing the concept, we came to the conclusion that scars are in fact a reflection of Christ in more ways than one. Further, the Holy Spirit led us to a place where He instilled in us a contemplation of the fact that Jesus actually chose to keep His scars. I mean, He could have healed them completely with no remaining evidence of the wounds, but He chose not to. This is something that God has been continually working in my spirit ever since. I’ve been earnestly praying over the lesson therein.

 

I’ve contemplated the source of scars, how the extent of the wound doesn’t always equate to the extent of the scar was one thing that came to mind. Another was how some scars are inflicted by others and some self-inflicted. I’ve considered the healing process that goes into wounds and how much time, and sometimes money, goes into trying to diminish or cover them. I’ve paralleled physical scars with emotional and spiritual scars, and in all of that I keep returning to the fact that Jesus still bears His. In John chapter 20, we see Him show the scars on His hands and sides to His disciples when visiting them after His resurrection. Further down in that same chapter, He uses those very scars to instill in Thomas belief.

 

As I’ve prayed over these things, it occurs to me how often I seek God to reveal Himself to those I love and those around me who are lost or suffering. I frequently ask Him to perform a miracle in their lives that they might see His hand and know His power and thus believe or find healing. Today, it occurs to me that not once have I ever asked Him to reveal Himself to them through my scars. Not once have I ever considered that perhaps the miracle they need to see, is the one that is evidenced within my own scars. Don’t get me wrong, I have shared testimony of the things that God has brought me through, I have shared testimony regarding the things I have seen God do in the lives of others, but I believe I have failed to truly expose my own scars as a means of instilling belief in others. It also does not escape me that throughout this journey toward ministry God spoke over me, through one of His children, that all of the things I journeyed through in my younger years was to serve purpose in the lives of those He would send my way. He specifically stated that, “[my] ceiling would be their floor” and yet, I did not internalize the fact that I might be asked to reveal scars rather than healing.

 

So, I’m asking myself why? The answer may be fairly obvious, but only really hits home to me tonight. I struggle with vulnerability. I struggle with the possibility that exposing my scars might be painful to myself or to others, but the fact is that it is in those scar that I bear the image of Christ. Galatians 6 verse 17 states, “From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”  This morning, the Lord took me back to the same house of worship where He chose to speak that message to me some time ago. On that particular day, I was drawn to go forward to receive prayer and God spoke directly to me. Today, He led me back, alone, and this time He sent someone to me – in my seat! She prayed over me direct words from God that I fully received knowing that it was Him rather than her that was speaking, and tonight He is connecting for me all of these messages.

 

He is showing me that I have to lay things down and that part of that is going to manifest itself in vulnerability. He is calling and preparing me to be vulnerable. I can’t say that I am fully ready, but I know that the time is coming. For now, I will share that God is showing me that it is time. Time for me, time for others, maybe time for you, to understand that while He heals, He chooses to leave the scars as testimonies of His mighty hand; as reflections of the very marks of Christ. So, I write tonight and ask that you pray for me, and to share that I am also praying for you. Praying that God will strengthen us and make us bold and courageous enough to trust Him with our scars in order that He might do mighty things through our complete surrender. We might also consider the words the apostle Paul stated earlier in the book of Galatians chapter 6 when he said, “May it never be that I boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul, who also shared in Corinthians chapter 12 that “in order to keep [him] from becoming conceited, [he] was given a thorn in the flesh.” Talk about a scar! Perhaps then, it is, that our scars serve the dual purpose of both glorifying our all-powerful God and keeping us humble.

 

Until next time my friends, bear your marks with humility and vulnerability.

 

~ Jen