My daughter once caught a glimpse of some scars on my stomach from a surgery I had recently gone through. She expressed her surprise that they were still so visible since it had been a few months. She told me that she thought they would have been gone by then. I explained to her that, “some scars take a long time to heal”. As is often the case, the words I spoke to her spoke to me. I thought about those words often since we had our conversation, their truth haunting me because I know all too well how accurate they are.
“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand… there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep, that have taken hold” – Frodo Baggins (Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King). There are some wounds that go so deep that the scars take an exceptionally long time to heal. In fact, there are some wounds that go so deep that the scars heal but never completely disappear. They leave behind a faint trace of the wound as a reminder of what you survived.
That’s what scars are to me… a reminder of what you survived. They are a visible reminder of something that wounded you but did not destroy you. They are reminders of a pain that you survived, a pain that hurt you but didn’t break you. I know, because I have my share of them; some that are visible, others that are not. Both have been painful. As I look at my scars, I am reminded of the ones my beloved Savior bears, scars that bought my freedom and healing. When I think of them, I realize scars aren’t so bad after all.
Scars may not be beautiful, but they can tell a beautiful story. Scars are proof of healing; they are proof that the wound was not fatal. Sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes you feel as if you are going to die from the wounds you have incurred. I look at my scars and I remember how badly they hurt when I first came home from the hospital. Those wounds hurt! They garnered a lot of my attention because they were causing me so much pain, but thankfully, over time they slowly healed a little more each day. That’s how it works, my friend.
Wounds that were once so painful, so vivid start healing. Their pain recedes and the scars mend as time passes on. I have found this to be the normal process no matter where the wound has occurred. Scars heal; some take longer than others, but they do heal. They may never completely disappear, and I am learning that this okay. They are just souvenirs that remind me I am a survivor. My scars are my war wounds and are becoming something that I am proud to call my own. It has taken me a long time to get to where I am today, dear heart.
I am not yet where I want to be, but oh how thankful I am that I am not where I used to be. God has truly brought me a long way and I am eternally grateful for what He has taught me. The wounds may take a long time to heal but in His hands, there is healing. When you give your pain to Him, He brings the healing you need. You can trust the One who bears the scars of His love for you upon His body, to help you deal with what has wounded you. You are safe in His hands, beloved, let Him show you the path to healing. Give your pain to Him and trust Him to heal you.
I am the Lord who heals you. Exodus 15:26
Katrina Douglas
