SCARRED

I went to a church service tonight and I heard a message that really touched my heart. It seemed to be a message that was tailor made just for me, and yet I looked around and saw many tears. The name of the message was SCARRED. The young minister began to talk about the many different types of scars people have - physical, emotional, and spiritual. My children and some of their friends were sitting in front of me and I thought about some of the most recent scars they have experienced. I thought about my friends who have been through the same things I have with a church and some have been through a lot worse than I could ever imagine. As he began to talk I knew that this service was going to bring healing to my life. It would take too long to try to cover it all, but I want to share a few things that really helped me.

He had some great illustrations - see if you can picture these things. He had everyone stand who had any type of physical scar. Almost every single person in the room stood. This signified how our co-workers, our friends, and strangers we come in contact with, all have scars that we don't know about. He also had a girl walk out with a jacket on, looking really happy, but when she took her jacket off, she had on a white shirt with pieces of red tape to symbolize scars in her life. He played a video of different people, who looked happy, but each one told about an event in their life that had left an emotional scar. The things he said and the illustrations he gave made me so aware that there are people all around us who are hurting. Then......

He shared about the scars that Jesus has and how He was thinking of each one of us when He took each blow. Each time Jesus was beat He thought about how much He loved us. Jesus pictured us in His mind and had thoughts of how we would be somebody in life because of the scars He was taking. Because of what Jesus did for us, we can overcome the scars in our lives. This young minister shouted, "Jesus thought we were worth it!" I was so reminded tonight of the love Jesus has for me and you.

He concluded the service by saying , "Jesus doesn't want us to let our scars defeat us. He wants us to use them to help others!" We all have scars that hurt, but when we look back and remember how we got them, we can use what we have learned to help others. I left there with great hope and a resolve to help as many people as I can. That's really what this blog is all about. I care enough that I don't want others to have hurts that cause scars in their lives. I thought about many of you tonight - ones who have been called names, ones who have lost children, ones who have lost friends, ones who have lost jobs, ones who have been mistreated, and I just want you to know that Jesus loves you and I love you.