Transforming the Scars

“Only Jesus can make these scars beautiful. Only he can give meaning to them and bring healing to the hurt that lies behind them.”

-Jan Kern, Scars that Wound: Scars that Heal

There are a lot of difficult things going on in my life as I deal with emotional and mental scars from painful things I have endured throughout my life. There is so much power in the words above.

God truly can take our scars- anything that haunts us or harms us- and turn them into something beautiful. That is exactly what Jesus did on the cross. He was scarred so much that the scars were countless, and yet, a lot of healing and powerful things came from his death on the cross.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” 

–Isaiah 53:5 (KJV)

I am not going to lie. It is really difficult to deal with scars. But with God’s strength, we can do anything. I truly believe that God will take this difficult point in my life and do something incredibly powerful through it. He already has transformed me in many ways.

A few weeks ago, my physical symptoms (the spasms and stuttering) stopped but I have had bouts of flooding memories. When this happened, I had countless memories of my childhood-some very negative, some very positive. However, sometimes the flooding memories become uncontrollable.

I have had even more repressed memories surface from years of abuse I endured as a child. Needless to say, it is very rough. I have a ton of scars that still need to be healed. I believe that God knows I am strong enough now to work through those memories and heal. I have a lot of hope that I will get through this point in my life and emerge an even stronger person.

I believe that everyone has some sort of scar that they carry. Some people have many. Everyone has some deep hurt. I am here to say that no matter what scars you are dealing with, God truly can transform that hurt into something beautiful. I hope that my life can be a testimony to how God truly can heal us from the deepest and darkest hurts.

Life is not about being perfect. It is not about doing everything according to plan. Currently, I am dealing with the fact that my dream of getting a PhD is going to be put on hold for now so that I can focus on healing. It is very difficult for me to deal with that, but honestly, I know that God has something great in mind. He has a great plan for each of us. I know there is a reason for everything.

We have to put our trust in God, knowing that He has our best interests at heart and that He has something great planned for each of us.

I am going to admit that it is really difficult to put our full trust in something greater that we cannot see. But let me also tell you that it makes life easier to deal with when you trust God. When you trust in God, it is much easier not to worry because you know that no matter what comes your way, He will be there guiding you all the way. There is a ton of comfort in knowing that He’s got your back and He’s not going to abandon you.

Let God transform your scars. Let Him make something beautiful out of the most painful and deep parts of your life. It’s not easy but it is definitely very powerful and encouraging.

I want to leave this post with one of the most powerful skits I have ever seen that shows how Jesus can help us overcome the negative things in our lives and how He can transform our lives.