The Healing Power of Wounds

I am sure that you know that wounds have a way of embittering. The pain of rejection can send a message to your soul: you are not good enough.  You have meditated, fast, read, and you are still empty. Where is God in all this pain, especially pain that you have no control over. But, did you know that wounds also have the possibility of healing, too?

There is a sweet girl in my class, Havah. She has a cleft-lip  that has been improved by surgery, but the damage is still noticeable. To me, the child is lovely, but outside of my room, who knows what other voices say to her precious ears. God reminded that when He sees me, He sees lovely, not ___________. But when I leave our secret place (Psalm 91), I need to take the mirror and picture that God has of me, although that is sometimes hard to do. It makes me frightened for little Havah and sad for the child parts of you and me.

After our daily excursion into the world, we often return home smeared with dirt and excrement.  We certainly don't feel pretty or special. We feel soiled. Satan uses those feelings of inadequacies and ugliness to turn is away from Our Father. When we look in the distorted mirrors of the world's carnival or the devil's haunted house, we feel grotesque and strange. We don't resemble the perfect creation that God says He sings over (Zephaniah 3:17). We ask, "Why did you lie to me?"  It's not so much a lie as love for God sees you as an exquisite work of his hands. When I see Havah, I see her petite frame, energy, joy, and I love that crooked smile just as God must have loved Jacob's limp. We may be people who limp into heaven, but Abba's face well be the first face we will see beaming at us at the end of the race. We will hear Him say, "Welcome home, Beloved. You done good." God, of course, is Southern. I don't care how you get there, just get there. You will surely have a testimony.

No matter where you have been wounded, keep running toward the prize: Jesus. Remember, that His mirror and His words are the only ones of the truth. Only your Creator can know your true value: "We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne" (Hebrews 12:2).

Just keeping going,
MJ
P.S. After Jacob's battle and wounding, he got a name-change which signaled a greater nature transformation. He was no longer the schemer and trickster; he became Israel, a holy patriarch whose name means God perseveres or contends. Let God contend for you because one touch from Him in the right place will leave you forever changed even if it leaves a wound.