Hi Ladies – my apologies, I’m running a day behind this week. I’m sharing a simple quote and a post with you today that have really encouraged me recently – hope they’re a blessing to you. Lv Tracey xx
Sometimes it takes the salt of tears to help us truly saver the sweetness of life. – Lysa Terkheurst
You Don’t Have to Hide Your Scars
By Jennifer Dukes Lee
I have a scar on my left leg, an accidental souvenir from a head-on car collision in 2009. After the accident, the insurance company offered to pay for plastic surgery, but I declined. I wanted to keep my scar. Here’s why:
I needed to remember what I’d been saved from. The scar was a part of my rescue story. When the doctors sewed up my leg, the stitched wound was in the shape of a Y. To me, the single letter stood for Yahweh. I felt as if I’d been marked by God’s first initial.
Every once in a while, I run my fingers along that scar, now fading.
The scar always reminds me to thank God for the rescue.
I have other scars, too. These are interior scars you can’t see, but if we sat down face-to-face, I’d tell you more. My voice might tremble when I told you about the stories behind the scars. I have been wounded by others. I have wounded myself. It all leaves a mark.
Do you have scars like that too?
Maybe your voice is trembling a little when you whisper: “Yes, I do.”
How do you feel about your scars? What happens when you think about your past? Do the scars make your heart race, your skin flush? Do your scars make you feel ashamed that it shook out the way it did? Or do they make you grateful that you were rescued?
Maybe you’re like most of us: a complicated combination of both.
What if we had permission to show our scars? What if we refused the insurance of interior plastic surgery? Here’s what I know now:
Our scars remind us that, though we were wounded, we’ve been healed. Our scars are a part of our rescue story. We’ve been marked by Yahweh.
I know it’s not healthy to live in the past, but that doesn’t mean we ought to completely forget what has happened to us. Every once in a while, Jesus wants us to remember.
That’s part of what we learn from that beautiful story in the Gospel of Mark, when friends lowered their paralyzed friend through a roof, an ingenious way to bring a buddy to the feet of Jesus.
Jesus forgave that man of his sins, and then He healed him. His words to the man are marvelous and curious.
Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home! {Mark 2:11}
Imagine, for a moment, the condition of that ratty, dirty mat. Yet Jesus tells the man to take the mat with him, like a wretched souvenir. That man’s mat is like a scar. It’s a reminder of who he had been, and what he was rescued from. The mat is a part of one human being’s terrific story.
Jesus doesn’t tell the man, “Toss that old thing in the dumpster on the way out the door.” He doesn’t tell the man to burn the mat or leave it at the curb. He tells him to take that awful mat with him.
I think that Jesus is asking the same of us, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
Friend, keep your mat. I get it: Maybe you’d rather forget your past. Maybe you’d rather toss your past in the burn pile.
But the rest of us need your mats and your scars. They are a part of your story.
Who knows? Someday, someone else will have the same kind of wound you once had. They’ll need to know your story, to know that survival isn’t a myth.
Your voice might shake a little when you pull out your mat, or show them your scar, but don’t be afraid.
It doesn’t mean you failed. It means you were healed.
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Winter Warm Up
Saturday the 23rd July, Laurel Room,
Ribbonwood Centre, Dapto.
12.30pm
As you know our Winter Warm Up is coming up soon and
I am needing some helpers with set up and pack up on the day including tea and coffee set up, food service and of course we need a range of soup and dessert dishes. If you can help or contribute please give me a call or txt or catch up with me on Sunday. More details below.
We are continuing our theme of “find yourself amongst friends” so please invite a friend, relative, neighbour or anyone who might enjoy a warm and welcoming reprieve on a winter afternoon that includes some yummy wintery soups and desserts and some good inspiration.
Speaker: Cherry Scott
Topic: On Loneliness – Pitfalls and Promises.
Invites available now at church.
Whats your thing?? ~ there are lots of ways you can be involved in making this a beautiful afternoon so please let me know if you can do any of the following.
~ Bring along a favourite soup or a delicious dessert
~ Help spread the word via your social media
~ Help with set up and decoration
~ Help serve and look after our guests during the event
~ Help with pack up
You can reply via this email.