Scars...

We've all got 'em. 

Some physical. 

Some emotional. 

Some spiritual. 

Some are self inflicted. 

Some inflicted by no choice of our own... cut deep by someone or some circumstance we did not choose. 

Some try to cover them up with bracelets or long sleeves or even simply a painted on smile. 

But, nonetheless, they are there. 

Some wounds so fresh, they sting every day. 

Others have scarred over, yet their presence is still there and the scar brings flashbacks of memories with every glance. 

It's as if the pain never goes away. 

     Tell me, do wounds heal? Can they just disappear? The memory removed? (Along with the guilt and shame) Maybe if we continue to hide them and ignore them it will be as if it never happened. Maybe the mind will finally forget and move on. If you have tried this... your aware this plan is deadly. You hide from others... refusing to let anyone close... afraid they might see them. You become closed off. You fake it. You smile... while inside you are screaming. And the pain in your stomach feels as though someone is clenching it tightly. But the risk that someone might catch a glance of your scars is unbearable. You can't imagine their face. The questions. The thoughts they might have. You want them to know you as having it all together. You want them to be proud of you... not ashamed. Maybe you are the one who let someone in once... and they left you. You showed them your wounds only for them to run away and leave you in your own gushing blood. They didn't want to get messy. Your mess was too much. You were too much. Your worst fears confirmed. You're a burden. Not worth the fight. Not worth much at all... Not with those scars. So you spend every waking moment trying to frantically mop up your mess... cover it... hide it... ignore it. Just so you can feel like you are worth some kind of value.

     Oh, you who are scarred... you are worth much value! Without scarred people... there would be no need for a Wounded Healer. And this Wounded Healer does not hide His scars... He actually stretches out His hands and says, "Here, touch my scars and believe." See and feel His scars from His own pain He endured. Where He suffered physical torment and jabbing words from the relentless people who called themselves righteous. Scars from where He hung on a cross with the weight, of not only your messy sin but the whole worlds, heaved onto His bruised and bleeding shoulders. He suffered so that you and I could live. What beautiful, breathtaking scars. Scars of redeeming love.

     Do you believe me when I say yours are just as beautiful? You may disagree, call me crazy, and shake your head in utter defiance because you know shame... you've see it on people's faces when they have seen your scars. When they have seen a child of God broken and bloodied... stuck in stuff they have no idea how to deal with because it did not come in their Sunday School "how to witness" manual. So they took up their manual and left you... with their heads held high. Leaving you hanging your head in shame. Well, let me tell you... not all people flee. There are some who are willing to bend down into your mess and lift you up. There are some who don't see you as a waste of time. So just because some left... doesn't mean all will. So don't lose hope. Don't shut down. Before you know it... when you're not even looking... a helping hand is bound to come. And ya know, there's a hand reaching out to you at this very moment... Inviting you to touch His scars. Will you reach out? Will you let Him wipe away the fountain blood of shame pouring out from your wounds? Stop running. Stop hiding. For there is a love far greater than you or I can even imagine. There is One who will never run... never look at us ashamed... never say that we are some waste. So let us reach out with our bare skin. Scarred or bleeding. Let us take off the bracelets, remove the fake smiles... and let our scars proclaim the story of redeeming love. Let others see your scars and feel a sense of relief... knowing they are not alone. And maybe, just maybe, they too will touch and feel our Saviors scars.

You are not alone! 

Everyone is scarred... Few just choose to show it. 

But there is no shame in scars which have been washed by His love. 

Your scars... 

His scars... 

are beautiful.