My Scars Remind Me

The other day I spent a long time looking at the bottom of my left foot. Yes, the bottom of my left foot. Not both feet, but the left in particular.

You see, the bottom of my left foot is quite different from the right. It is scarred - the result of a staph infection that left me on antibiotics for over a year. That foot hurt so bad when the infection first started that I could not stand on it. It got so bad that I had to have surgery to remove the skin. The infection was so serious that when the skin grew back, the infection came back with it.

But you really don't need all the details. What I was thinking of as I stared at the scars on my foot were the days that I went to work and church with a house shoe and bandages. The days that I sang on the praise team seated on a stool because I could not stand. The day that I cried because I was finally able to wear a shoe - a flip-flop - for the first time in months.

The scars remind me of the news report I saw that profiled a woman my exact age who died as a result of the same type of infection. The reports said she got it at a nail salon and the infection traveled to her heart and killed her.

And I love my scars. I love them because they remind me of God's faithfulness. They remind me that God's report takes precedence over what the "experts" say and think. The scars remind me how I was told that the infection would spread, but miraculously, it stayed confined to that one foot. The scars remind me, sometimes by hurting, that I am still alive despite what I went through.

And they will do the same for you. I was thinking that perhaps Thomas wanted to see Christ's nail-scarred hands because he knew that scars would prove that healing had taken place. You can only be scarred, after all, if a wound has healed.

Be encouraged to take some time to observe your own scars. They will remind you that even though you were wounded, you were also healed! You lived to fight another day. And you have the victory over what hurt you, because you are still here and the pain, the sickness, the disease, is gone.

Jesus' scars were for our healing (Isaiah 53; 2 Peter 2), but He is alive and lives forever! Our scars may be our witness to others of the healing power of Jesus.

So yes, I stared at my scars, but not really to be reminded of the pain. My scars are my reminder that God is able - that He is a healer - and that He delivered me! When things threaten to overwhelm me, when sickness comes upon me, I remember the scars - mine - and the stripes - Christ's. Both of them remind me that whatever I am going through is not permanent - it is only for a moment.

And I will live again. So will you.