Scars

Then saith He to Thomas,

Reach hither thy finger, and behold

my hands; and reach hither thy hand,

and thrust it into my side: and be

not faithless, but believing.

And Thomas answered and said unto Him,

My Lord and my God.

John 20:27,28

I was a case manager for a Christian foster care agency. I loved my families that I serviced from my home. I looked forward to home visits that I was required to make on at least a monthly basis if not more than that. There was one group home I loved visiting. This home had what I referred to as a “foster dog.” I'll call him “Dawg” for now. He was one of the large Shar Peis with all of the wrinkles and folds of the skin. He was a pretty big dog.

When I arrived at the home, Dawg always greeted me at the front door. On this one occasion, Dawg was a little too excited. He jumped up on me with front paws on my shoulders. The foster mom immediately called out to the dog, “Get down!” Dawg did just that but in the process, his left front paw came down on the back of my right hand and cut about three huge, deep scratches there. Without being too graphic, the cuts began to bleed profusely. I headed to the kitchen sink, grabbing paper towels. The foster mom felt so bad about it and I assured her that I would heal.

It took a long time for my hand to heal after becoming a little infected but it did heal. The scars almost look like an upside down “Y” shape. I will say though that I still have those reminders of Dawg on the back of my hand. When I look at the scars, I can't help but smile as I think of Dawg and the unique foster care relationship we shared. You see, the scars are there but they don't hurt anymore. Scars are odd things as they age with us.

Scars can be caused by some pretty big events in a persons life. Scars from severe burns take a lot of time to get over as they create some real difficult problems even in simple movements. Some scars people bear often from bad car accidents. Scars can come as a result of bad falls, and some can be a result of various degrees of surgery.

No matter the scars, they come as a result of pain. We wonder at the time when the body is offended, if there will ever be healing. There are circumstances that may delay healing and soreness can go on for a time but eventually, healing comes even if there is a scar that remains.

Physical scars aren't the only kind of scars we bear. There are emotional scars, that although they can't be seen, are still present. In fact, there is emotional damage that unless given over to the Lord for His healing, can remain with an individual for a lifetime. These scars can come as a result of negative events during childhood but can come through the teen years on into adulthood where major events tend to take place. Emotional scars can come as a result from abuse in different forms, cruel, demeaning words, poverty, abandonment, loss of various types but all through life, the cruelness of words meant to hurt tends to be something that's hard to get over. Feel free to add to the list for each of us have experienced heartbreaking events that crush our spirits often dished out by people who just don't care about the cruelty they may casually render.

Along the emotional line, one thing, one major thing that intensifies the hurt and resulting scars comes when we are damaged by other Christians. I have to wonder about Christians who treat others with horrible cruelty seemingly without conscience. These are injuries that can damage us for long periods of time that should not come at the hand of Christians. The best support we should have in this world is from other Christians whether we are in agreement or not.

Scars when fully healed serve only as reminders. Those reminders will be what you and I make of them...positive or negative. They can remind us of God's goodness in aiding us to be survivors to His honor and glory. I have both emotional and physical scars, and because of them through God's mercy have grown and matured. All of us because of our scars are able to minister to those who perhaps are not doing as well through their own scars as they would like.

Scripture is very vague about scars. The word itself is found only a couple of times in the Bible but may be found various places depending on the translation. There is a rather familiar hymn that keeps running through my mind. There is no one who has walked the earth, who endured so much for others like Jesus did. His scars were on His hands, feet, brow and really over most of His body from the horrendous beatings He endured. Scripture tells us that He was hardly recognizable as a human being.

Because of His scars, you and I have a recourse when we are hurt physically or damaged emotionally. We can place everything in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus. Oh, we'll keep physical scars until we receive our glorified bodies, but the emotional ones, we can hand over to Jesus for His keeping. I have known people to carry the pain of emotional pain and insult well into their adult years. That pain marks most things they do, decisions they make and ways they treat others. For Christians, that is unnecessary when we have Jesus, our burden bearer...our everything. Scars remind us where we've been but don't have to dictate where we're going. I agree with David Guinn who said:

Our scars prove we have a past...

Christs scars prove we have a future.

When we place our hand in Jesus' nail scarred hands, as did His disciple Thomas, may we with Thomas say: “My Lord and my God.”

Dear Father...most of us have gone through battles of life that have left us hurting. Some of us have some pretty deep scars perhaps as a result of physical injury. Even more of us have emotional scars that often rise up to nag us...while some have caused bitterness for some they don't know what to do with. Thank You for the scars Your Son endured for each of us. Thank You, Jesus for those scars and the fact that you can relate to us in whatever pain we endure. Thank You for strengthening and empowering us. We love you. Amen