Friday, March 12, 2010

I'll Take the Scar

     My leg is getting better from my treadmill accident, except my knee. It is still infected and hurts. I think since all of my weight was on my knee it got more skin grated off. I think all of it will scar though. I have many scars already so I guess it really doesn't matter anymore. Each scar is a lesson learned. The things my scars have taught me are:
  1. The scar on big toe taught me to watch for needles in the carpet.
  2. The scar on leg taught me to stay away from fighting dogs.
  3. The scar for my cesarean taught me children do not always cooperate with my plans.
  4. The scar on upper belly taught me there are consequences for eating too much fat!
  5. The scar on my chin taught me to know how to use something before I decide to ride it.
  6. The scar on my finger taught me to be careful when you use a sharp knife especially when cutting a turnip.
  7. The scar on my wrist taught me to be careful when trying to loosen a wooden window with your hand and to make sure you hit the wood and not the glass.
  8. The scar on my arm taught me to not flip a frozen hash brown in hot grease.
  9. My recent scars taught me to stay away from Virgina creeper.
  10. Now my new scars have taught me to run with the light on and wear the emergency cord when I am on my treadmill!
     These scars represent valuable lessons to me. They do not cause me any pain but are something I notice occasionally. However, it would be terrible if they had never healed. If I had to live with them as open wounds that never healed, I would live in misery. Probably most of us have physical scars and probably most of us have emotional scars. However, there are many people who never let their emotional scars heal, they continue to pick at their hurts and let them fester. Jesus is our Balm of Gilead. The balm of Gilead was an ointment which in old testament times, people would travel far to get. It had healing qualities. The balm would clean and heal wounds. Scripture calls Jesus our Balm of Gilead. He is the ointment for our wounds. Following His character, He will not force it on you. You must turn to Him for your healing. A people who never heal their emotional wounds are miserable and never enjoy life.
     Do you have emotional wounds that have not been healed? What is keeping you from letting Jesus heal you? Do you really want to live with open wounds for the rest of your life? Aren't you miserable? Let Jesus heal you! You will have scars but they will be simple reminders to you of lessons learned. I would take a scar over an open wound any day! Wouldn't you?
Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.
Genesis 37:25

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3

3 comments:

Sherry said...

I love the "Balm of Gilead"...one of my fav lessons I learned in "Lord heal my hurts".

Jackie Webb said...

I hope you're not offended that I laughed my head off at the first half of this wonderfully worded devotion. You ALWAYS have a great story......but this one consisted of a bunch so I was laughing 10times more!!! I love you. And, I love your obedience.

jackie

Steph said...

I have never heard of the Balm of Gilead. Very cool. I love the Psalms verse you have up. It is just a reaffirming that He takes care of you no matter what.