You are more than just scars

     Over the past few months, I have either talked to or heard of many friends who have been hurt, who have fallen, who are broken.
Not just physically but spiritually and emotionally. I love each one of these precious friends, and I have thought a lot about them.
     I also have fallen at times. I am broken. I am bruised. I have scars. I think we all do. I think we all have tears in our flesh, bruised thighs, scabbed knees, and bleeding knuckles. Not one of us is free from getting scars.
    The other day, I sat and sobbed. I thought of all my scars. All my sins, all my trials, all my pains. It felt like my spiritual body was just covered in nasty, bloody scars. I wondered, "Why in the world would anybody love me??"
    A few days later in seminary, I got my answer.
     We were having a lesson about Christ. How I love Christ! He is so good! He is so great! At the end of this lesson, we were invited to bear our witness of Christ, our feelings, our testimonies. One girl stood and talked about how Christ loves us even though we have sins, trials, temptations - "scars".
      I wondered why that is so. Why would a perfect being love someone so broken, so bruised, so scarred?
     And it just clicked. I then rose and bore my testimony.
     My friends, Christ loves you even though you have scars. But that is not why He loves you. He doesn't love you because of your imperfections, I don't think.
     No. He loves you because you are infinitely more than your scars. Your scars are about the size of a pea compared to the massive planet we call "identity". Your identity, your abilities, your power as a child of the greatest being, your Heavenly Father, are infinitely more than just scars.
You are more than just scars.
      However, it feels like scars are all the world can see. But scars can be healed. Insecurities, pains, and sins of all sorts can be healed by Christ. You can be healed by the one who laid down His life because He knows who you are. Your scars can be taken away the man who was whipped, who was broken, who bled, and who was scarred for you. And He didn't just do it because of your sins. I don't know if sins are an adequate motivator. No. He did it - the atonement, the suffering, the cross, His life - He did it all because when He suffered for you, I believe He saw each of us in His mind. He saw our faces, He saw our frailties, our sicknesses, and our scars, but more importantly He saw the God-like potential in each of us. And a prince, a princess, a god in embryo is worth dying for. You are worth dying for.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. - Isaiah 49: 16
      So when you begin to feel like you are only scars, think of Him. Think of the Son of God who died for you. Think of His hands that not only bled for you, but that you are engraven upon. And think of who you are. Because Satan can obscure beauty, inflict pain, give us temptations, and try to tear us down, but He can NEVER ever take away your true identity. Life nor death nor pain nor sickness nor scars can take away that. And that identity comes with a power and magnetism that can help you find God, embrace healing, and overcome.
The girl who thinks she is overweight. The boy who wandered off the path. The mother who feels alone. The father who feels inadequate. Every human on the face of the planet. :
You are more than just scars.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-Julie

"See the diamond-like potential in each hunk of coal." -Beautiful Music