When Life Gives You Scars....

I wish I had the words to complete that phrase.... When Life Gives You Scars... then what? Lots of thoughts come to mind... When Life Gives You Scars...
...Embrace Them.
...Hide Them.
...Flaunt Them.
... Put Vitamin E Oil on Them.

This short life has given me lost of scars, figuratively and literally. The most recent being a 7.5 inch line of nastiness down the middle of my chest. Some days I feel like wearing it like a badge of honor and other days just the ugliness of it catches me off guard.

I won't lie that intimacy is also different now. I want my chest covered because, while there are times that my scar wears like courage, it certainly never feels attractive. My husband says and expresses otherwise but I can't help how I feel. It's an eye sore, for sure. So with this scar I wrestle. Hide it in shame or wear it with pride? The answer depends on the day.

In time my scar will fade and seeing it in my reflection probably won't surprise me and will feel like part of me. Physical scars do fade. But what about emotional scars? Do they fade or change with time? What do we do when life gives us those?

Now I'm back to finishing the title to this blog, I think. What if when life gave us scars, we learned from them? Our pastor once shared that when trouble comes we must see ourselves as students and not victims. Maybe the scars are just the reminders of the lessons learned.

A couple of years ago I had a very hot pizza stone burst on my stove top and come crashing down right where my 2 and 4 year-old children were standing. Miraculously, in the fraction of a second it took for the searing pieces to land, my two little ones weren't standing there anymore. They didn't know to move, nor did they have quick enough reflexes to jump out of the way. They were just there one moment and out of the way the next. It truly was a miracle. The scorching pieces of stone melted the linoleum in the kitchen, leaving a large scar in my kitchen floor. Yes, it looked bad but every time I saw it, I praised and thanked the Lord for what He did that day to spare my children pain and disfigurement. That scar in the linoleum served as a constant reminder of what He did and was there for a lesson to be learned in God's faithfulness. I wouldn't trade that scar for anything.

So it is with my other scars... from brain surgery, heart surgery, miscarriage, marathon bombings, etc.... I have learned and grown from each one. What's underneath those scars is a beautiful picture of a heart that's learning, growing and maturing. As Ann Voskamp would say, "it's the ugly-beautiful.:

Yes, life will give you scars but when it does, learn from them.

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