I was 10 years old when I had chicken pox. I vividly remember my mom telling me, “Don’t scratch your chicken pox or they will leave a scar.” In the moment, I didn’t care about scars…I just wanted to the itching to go away. And to this day, I still have a scar from one of my chicken pox!
Scars are inevitable in life- whether physical, spiritual, or emotional. Some scars are due to our own choices, some are due to the repercussions of choices of others, and others still are due to others choices for our own good. Each scar we have tells a story. Sometimes those scars tell stories of courage and valor, some tell stories of miracles, some tell stories we’d rather not retell, and some are scars that no one even knows we have.
Abby has a lot of scars. From the G-tube site that gives her nutrition, to the port site that holds a special IV that allows her to have quick access for life saving fluids, to now an almost 10 inch scar that proves miracles happen. Abby also has a lot of emotional scars- being placed for adoption in early infancy due to the fact that the country her birthparents came from could not provide for her medical needs, the countless hospital stays that took the place of her newborn and early toddler years, and the many, many, scary, painful procedures she has been through in order for her to continue to thrive. But, I can guarantee you that she doesn’t notice these scars. Yes, these scars are going to surface in the years to come and Dave and I pray now that we can share her story with her well as she grows and matures. Right now, Abby doesn’t see the scars. She sees life. She sees couches to climb and messes to make. For once in her life, I believe she is seeing and noticing things in her little life that she never noticed before. She is conquering her eating and walking challenges. She is defying odds and pushing on…all because of scars. Scars that don’t define her but drive her to become all that she can be.
How often do we allow the scars of life to define us? Those teenage years of bad choices. The past relationships that ended over and over again. The physical scars of abuse, self-harm, and self-neglect. These scars don’t have to define you. They aren’t who you are. These scars are proof that you are human and in need of saving…in need of a Savior who loves you and wants to heal those broken places in your life. Don’t let the scars of the past define who you are today; instead, let them drive you to the One who can make all things new. And then, like Abby, those scars become your story to tell. Your story that tells the world your scars were healed because of the scars of Jesus who died for you so that you could be made whole and complete in Him.
* Photograph by: Meg Brock Photography