They Will Know You by Your Scars

I’m on my way to collecting a baker’s dozen of scars. Not from bar fights, shark encounters, or my glory days as an action hero, but from skin cancer treatments. So far I’ve been cut 12 times, with two more to go before I can graduate from this little adventure. That’s given me a lot of time to think about scars. 

Scars are fascinating. On the surface, they tell a story. If you met someone with not a single scar on their body you’d probably think, “This person hasn’t done anything that matters.” Our scars are proof that we’ve tried, risked, failed, and healed. They’re receipts for adventures survived. And because of that, they build trust. If you’ve walked through something hard and carry the mark, I’m far more likely to lean in when you offer advice.  In full transparency - if I get the feeling you don’t have scars, I classify your opinion as meaningless.

With that in mind, check this out. Life with Jesus is a strange friendship. He’s the all-powerful Creator, which means He could wave away every obstacle before it even touches us. And sometimes, He does. But other times, He doesn’t. We pray, we believe, we wake up in the morning to see the mountain still right there where it was when we went to bed …unmoved. Why?

One theory is this: if God always rescued us instantly, we’d never have scars. And without scars, we’d never connect with people who are hurting. Our perfectly polished stories would be too clean, too untouchable. No one would trust us. No one would see us as qualified to sit with them in their struggle. In His wisdom, God sometimes allows the trial to run its course to mark us (In my recent journey literally, but more often spiritually 😂) so that we can meet others in the raw places of their own pain.

And that’s where the encouragement lies. Many of us live in that tension between the promise God made and the promise fulfilled, or facing a challenge and wondering why the instant miracle didn’t come. The easy road is to grow bitter, to give up, or to demand answers. The noble road is to accept that the mark has a purpose. To trust that scars are not wasted.

Many of you are already familiar with Whit’s battle for sobriety. Although there were many reasons she started that battle, the only “why” that consistently kept her fighting the good fight was this: if she could navigate the journey faithfully, it would make the road easier for those who came behind her. Her scars are the only thing that would make her recognizable to the person desperate for hope. Read that one more time and let it wash over you.  The people who are desperate for the authority you carry from what you’ve overcome recognize your scars. Whit believed that her scars would qualify her to stand beside the broken and point to Jesus, not as a philosophy, but as an actual person.

Like I said - it’s a theory.  I'm not here to play make believe that I know why God does what He does, but when the miracle doesn’t come right away, it may be because He’s writing a story through your scars that will matter for eternity. Your scars may be the very thing that earns you the right to represent Jesus in someone else’s life.

So …"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" -James 1:2-4

Not lacking anything - including ACCESS to the hearts of the hurting