Every scar tells a story. A story of pain or fear, of an accident or an attack.
A few months ago, Bobby and I took our oldest son, Justin, to the DMV so that he could take his driving test. As he was turning in the appropriate paperwork, I noticed a faint horizontal scar on the top of his right ear.
Suddenly I felt like I was back in the moment that scar was made. He was about 3 years old and fell out of his “big boy” bed in the middle of the night. On his way down, he hit the bed frame and cut his ear. I heard him cry out and rushed into his room to scoop him off the floor and calm him down. I took him to the bathroom, gently washed the blood off and put a band-aid it.
15 years later, I am standing behind him in the DMV looking at the shadow of the scar and reliving how it happened.
As the emotions rolled through me under the bright fluorescent lights, I thought about how much I love this child of mine. How every moment with him has been a gift, even the scary times like when he ran away from the park we were playing in and down a busy street (oh yes he did – just like the Flash or Dash from the Incredibles) or feel out of his bed in the middle of the night. Justin has always kept me on my toes. His knowledge of the world around him grew much faster than his wisdom did. I have had to run after him, climb up to get him, scoop down to pick him up when he fell, and kiss countless tears away.
As I remembered this, I felt the Lord whisper to my heart:
“I remember every scar you have just as vividly.
I was there.
I know each one.
I love you like this and more.
I not only know every scar, I bore every scar”.
Jesus was whipped with 39 lashes and then they laid is bloody back on a wooden cross to sacrifice him. There is a prophecy in the Jewish Scriptures about the coming Savior:
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds, we are healed.”
The Book of Isaiah 53: 2-5 NIV
“But he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.” Matthew 27:26 NIV
My friend, you are loved more than you know by the One who gave His life for you. He will run after you, climb up to get you, pick you up when you fall and kiss every tear away.
Jesus bears the story of every one of your scars in His scars.
His love is more than skin deep and wants to heal you from the story that defines you, the accident that maimed you, the attack that dismantled you. He wants to love you completely and let that love restore all that has been broken.
It all starts at the cross.
You are loved.
You are a beloved daughter of God.
-Cindy Grasso
