"Yes, His love really did bring me here."

Oh, I've loved you from the start in every single way

and more each passing day.

You are brighter than the stars

Believe me when I say...

it's not about your scars

it's all about your heart.

--Mindy Gledhill--

Newest book: Story, by Steven James. Great find at the $5 bookstore! Steven is a storyteller and a poet. I may have found a favorite to add to my list. He starts with the story of Easter, then fills in everything previous to and beginning from that point in God's story, in our stories. I really liked this chapter about scars. I'd never thought about the detail of Jesus having the scars to show from what He had been through. Maybe it's a minor, insignificant detail in the story of salvation, but what Steven has to say about it is very interesting to me:

[ I thought this part was really funny! ] "One time I was speaking at a church in Kentucky and I mentioned that just like the disciples recognized Jesus by his scars, just like Him we'll have scars in heaven. One rather large woman looked a bit distressed and said, 'You mean we won't have perfect bodies in heaven?' I didn't really know what to say. I guess she assumed she'd look like a supermodel in heaven after spending an entire lifetime eating twinkies here on earth. I thought about mentioning something about that to her as a helpful little dietary suggestion but decided not to."

"Maybe our scars, our histories of life on this earth, are an essential part of the afterlife. If we can infer anything about the body of the risen Jesus, it seems our scars are the only thing we get to take with us into eternity... Maybe it's so that when we've been dead for ten billion years and those few moments we had back on earth seem like a dream, we'll be able to say, 'Yes, I really did live in that place of skid marks and scars. Yes, I really did believe in Him and He really did rise again. Yes, His love really did bring me here.'"

"There on His skin is the evidence of how we treat our saviors, of how we act toward God, and how He reacts to us. Scars & all, God wants to save you. Hopes and dreams and everything; mistakes and wounds and heartaches. All of you. Who you are and who you were. Twinkie-eater or granola-head. Jesus offers to save you body and soul and scars and all."

So if our scars are more like reminders instead of regrets, meant to tell of tales and testimonies from these lives of ours, I can begin to fear failure less and trust His grace more. It gives me much comfort to know that it's more about who I become in the process than whether I follow all the rules and avoid making mistakes. I actually think mistakes are the best teachers, and the scars that follow may be the best way to show me that He is great, He redeems, and He works all things together for good.

"You came back to life with fresh scars and open arms

you arrive with a constant reminder of our world

pierced and etched upon your skin.

but the deepest scars didn't come from the nails,

and because of that

the healing you offer isn't just skin deep.

you can heal me all the way down to the bone

down to the heart.

I'm ready to enter the tale,

let your tale enter me.

Emergence."