It is out of our own bleeding that we are equipped to become blessings. Gods word says that it is in our suffering that we become qualified to be comforters of those who follow the broken paths we have traveled~2 Corinthians 1:4. No one precisely understands like someone who has worn our shoes. Not one relates as one who has followed our journey. We acquire so much healing power along the broken roads we travel.
Trails of brokeness where expectations are shattered, wholeness is lost, and life intersects the realities of a fallen world are actually the very places we are made into the image of Christ. They are the moments HE becomes real to us. They are the hollow spaces that Jesus becomes a necessity and not a duty, a Savior and not a story book character.
Why do we try to conceal our wounds? In our shame we dress them up and disguise them in ways the Bible calls filthy rags. In reality, they are beautiful stories that are filled with so many opportunities to help others, and in turn heal us. Our trials are signs that something threatened us, but we overcame. They are painful, but in all their pain lies a power that only we possess. A power to heal and share that healing with a friend. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.~ Proverbs 27:17.
May we all use our wounds to bless not depress; encourage not discourage; connect not conceal; heal and not hide. We all share a common brokenness in this life. We can let that brokenness be ruled and concealed by toxic shame, or another option is we can choose a different course. Many things can be taken from us in this life, but the power to choose our thoughts belongs to us alone, it just takes intentional discipline and sometimes an outright fight between the enemy that pursues us, and the Spirit that dwells within us.
The choice to choose to use our wounds to heal, free and connect takes courage and a great act of faith, not to mention vulnerability. Scandalous vulnerability is a beautiful thing! It says, I am HIS, He has paid my debt, and I am free to be broken because Jesus made me whole. It is in this place of sharing and connecting that we discover we are all really more alike than different. We find that we are not an anomaly, we are normal. I pray for my faith and courage to be strengthened so I choose faith over fear and scandalous vulnerability over safety shackled by shame. I’m not saying it will always be easy. What I am saying is that what is right is not often painless, and what is painless is not often right. Once I savored the freedom of Christ imparted righteousness, and consequential vulnerability, it was the setting free of an over burdened soul. The freedom is yours too friends. You just have to choose it.