Have you ever considered that your wounds may be a perfect gift from God that can serve others in profound ways?
“In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.” – Brennan Manning
It is not the breaking of our bodies that should be our focus— not the illnesses we may suffer from time to time—no matter how severe. It’s not our sicknesses we should buffer or how broken we may become while here—there is something else to consider—something other is near.
It’s not the betrayals or deceptions we may encounter, even if our hearts have been shattered and our souls are emptied and filled only with fear. The life that remains in us, which may be covered with grief, pain, and despair, is like the snow-covered flowers in winter, shall be unveiled when spring again fills the air.
For even the faintest heartbeat and most shallow of breath, there lies hope. Life does not come easy, even for the most wealthy, yet life is a choice to be made. And if we so choose to believe it, beauty shall be our reward each new day and each new year.
Authentic living shall bring forth such brightness to dispel and vanquish such desperate despair.
Our most gloomy nights filled with impatient anger can be transformed into powerful meekness and care; such sweetness to our bitter sorrows are waiting; such eternal wealth for our poverty is near, and such fullness to satisfy all hunger, to our souls shall there be the grandest affair.
All for those who shall be rewarded of mustard seed faith to compare; of glories unknown to the healthy, but for the sick such treasure laid bare; for beauty and ashes shall be traded, but none for the self-righteous to spare.
So kiss your chains, which binds you to all sorts of suffering, and thankfully say: “Good morning” to the pain, which lingered throughout the night and, yet, remains into the days, weeks, months, or perhaps years. In all things, even the bad and the ugly work out for our good by God’s care. This does not add to his glory, for He is complete in all attributes he bares, but it does add to your ultimate healing and refined glory to be credited and to be shared.
We who believe, and are true sons and daughters of God, are broken to be given and to become children who bear a lesser yet increasing glory of the Most Glorious Father of our hearts and souls.
So let’s not waste our suffering on complaining and blaming, but rather let us all rejoice in our transformation, which is to follow if we endure and do not despair!
Your brokenness is making you beautiful and a wellspring of Life for other sufferers to drink from. That, my dear sisters and brothers, is the Christ of all Healing, The God of all Comfort, and the Everlasting Father of all fragile Hopes.
The greatest gift that God could give required his only Son to suffer an ignominious and terrible death so that through Christ’s suffering, we would have everlasting life.
He was beaten, broken, and bruised for our healing that he may be given in place of our punishment for the Joy set before him.
My friends, you are that Joy!
My business takes me to people who have lost their homes and sometimes their loved ones to fire, flooding, or earthquake. Knowing this, I’ve added the following words to the reverse side of my business card:
“Living a scarless life is not living at all—sometimes, our greatest triumphs lie in our greatest defeats. In all things, I am a child of God and never a victim. I do not, therefore, interpret tragic circumstances as mishaps but as a divinely scheduled trip to God’s beauty salon.”
… God’s breaking is so that you may have something to give—something of eternal value. You are becoming His handiwork!
Call To Courage 