WOUNDS & SCARS

“You don’t know me, but my name’s Joan and I just found out I went to the same boarding school as you!  Can I meet you?  I have to talk to you!”  Joan showed up at Debbie’s house with her young kids in tow, and they ended up talking and crying together late into the night.

Though the boarding school had a reputation for high academic standards, the director controlled the students with fear and manipulation.  Penalties for breaking the rules were severe.

Wounds & Scars

“In my senior year of high school,” Joan recalled, “The director got angry at me for something, and she  locked me in a cleaning-supplies closet!”  While the rest of the class went on their long-awaited senior trip, Joan was left behind, forgotten.  She pounded on the closet door until someone finally discovered her.

“It’s difficult for me to talk about these things,” Joan confessed.  “The memories are still painful.”

Debbie shared similar stories, remembering her shame and humiliation when the director yelled at her for a minor offense in front of her classmates.  Twenty-seven years after she was a student there, Debbie decided to return to the grounds of the boarding school, seeking closure.

Healed Wounds

“God had been taking me through the process of healing, and I had made the choice to forgive the director of the school,” she told Joan.  “But I didn’t know how it would affect me to see all those familiar buildings again.  I knew that I had truly forgiven when I didn’t feel any more anger or bitterness.  Instead, I felt compassion for the director, as I thought about how she was a wounded person too.”

Though Debbie’s wounds had healed, the scars of those experiences served as reminders of what the Lord had done in her. Her scars allowed her to share the message of forgiveness, bringing healing to other wounded hearts.

Wounds heal, but scars remain.  Jesus’ scars are evidence of the suffering He underwent willingly on our behalf.  His scars are a testimony of God’s grace, and the forgiveness that He offers us.  Allow Jesus to bind up your wounds and bring healing to your heart, as you forgive those who have offended you and release the pain and hurt to the Lord.  Your scars can be a declaration of victory!

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

Going vertical!

MJ