Battle Scars Are Beautiful

We all have scars. Some of them might be from something like accidentally cutting yourself when you were struggling to take the pit out of an avocado and some might be from sliding into second base when there is a whole in your pants. There are scars that no one can see except the one who carries them inside. Each scar has a different story and each one has helped shape you to be who you are today. I personally try to never be ashamed of any pf my scars because they all show that I was stronger than whatever tried to take me down. I have scars from a treadmill trying to take me down (I trip over myself a lot) and I have scars from different situations trying to take me down. But with each scar I have learned at least one lesson that has helped me move on and grow because of that experience.

Something that has been on my heart a lot recently is how open Jesus was with His scars. What I find really amazing is that He didn't show people because He wanted to condemn them and show them what they had done to Him, but He used them to show the power and gospel of His father. When Thomas said that he would not believe that the other decibels had seen Jesus until he "[saw] the nail wounds in his hands, put [his] fingers into them, and placed [his] hands into the wounds in his side," Jesus did not hesitate to show Thomas the holes in His hands or make the offer for Thomas to put his fingers into the wounds on His side (John 20:24-29). He didn't condemn Thomas for wanting to do this, He just wanted Thomas to believe again. In this moment I believe that Thomas was the one who learned a lesson from seeing someone else scars. He was shown the power of Jesus, he was told to trust with out seeing, and he was also shown that the other decibels are trust worthy and he can trust what they say. Can you imagine how many people would be able to see how incredible our God is if we were to be more open with our scars?

This story is often talked about with the idea of trusting the Lord even when you can't see Him or when He is "taking His time" on answering your prayers. However when I read it I see how powerful our actions and words can be in the big picture of Gods plan for us. If we are supposed to go over to someone and pray for them but we don't because we are scared of what others around us might think, that one persons life is going to be changed because of that and YOUR life is going to be changed because of that. Instead of allowing the fear to cripple us and stop us from doing things, lets use it to fuel us and propel us to do more things that scare us. We can do everything and anything we want to as long as we don't allow our minds to overpower out hearts. Back in February of last year I was asked to give a message to the other youth at my church. this was the scariest thing I had ever been asked to do at that time. For those that know me, I am not one for speaking infant of large groups. Minutes before I was supposed to go up and start speaking, I was literally shaking with fear. I didn't want to say the wrong thing or give a message that no one needed to hear that night. Now looking back at it, I am beyond thankful that I didn't allow my fear to stop me from giving that message. Since then I have given six other messages to youth in third grade all the way up to youth that are the same age as me. I have found such a deep passion for sharing the love of Jesus and I can't wait to see where God takes me and this passion of mine.

The lessons that I have learned from my scars will not only help me become the person that I am but me sharing my scars with others will help them become the people they are supposed to be. The past year has been a rollercoaster of events and emotions. In the past you had to practically force me to use any personal pronouns and talk about myself. It is still not something that I will do for fun, but through those emotions and events and sharing with close friends, I have learned and seen the importance of letting people in on your scars and in on what is happening. You can learn from them, but in the same way they could learn from you. By facing our fears and showing out scars and telling the stories that come with them we are telling of the blessing that is over our lives and how no matter what challenge comes towards us our God is always going to be right there by our sides every step of the way and WILL NOT let you fall. Psalm 46:5 says "God is within her. She will not fall." And this is SOOO true! If you have accepted God into your life and you know that He has died for you and has taken away your sins, there is nothing that can come over you that is too big, too hard, or too powerful. You have the Lord of lords, the King of ALL kings, and the Father of the world on your side!

Challenge:

I want to end this post by challenging you to do something each day that scares you or show your scars to someone that might not know about them. You don't have to share your big scars, but if you feel lead to show the big scars don't hesitate to do it! When fear comes over you or you start to have doubts, remember that the scares that you have DID NOT over take you and that you are strong and mighty and you have the most powerful God standing behind you protecting you and watching over you with every step you take!

Prayer:

Lord I thank you for this beautiful day. I thank you that you are all powerful and watch over every single person all day every day. I thank you that you will place challenges everyday in front of every person that reads this. I pray that you remain them that you are next to them and will never place anything that they can't handle infant of them. I love you Lord and thank you for being so incredibly AMAZING.