Scars, Marks and Tattoos

An ex heroine addict has scars of where he used to shoot chemicals straight into his blood stream. A mum who’s given birth looks at her stretch marks and remembers the agony and the absolute joy… A middle aged man stares at his fading tattoos and remembers when he decided to mark a sign of his youth and identity.  We all have them in one way or another – Scars Marks and Tattoos.

As I looked down at my body I began to rip off, one by one, the self adhesive ECG pads that had been stuck on earlier that day.  Rip... wrists... Rip… ankles…. Rip… chest…. Rip…shins… They sure make them robust. As I began scrubbing away at the residual  grey rings of glue that had been left behind, I sobbed… “Why can’t they figure it out?  Why can’t they just find out what’s wrong? What can’t this nightmare be over?!!!” Then I remembered what I’d been taught just a month earlier – Scars and marks are not signs of injury but signs of survival!

The definition of a scar is “A mark left by a healed wound”. I smiled. I had a mind shift.  These marks where not there as a sign of unanswered questions, lack of diagnosis or  mystery illness but they were there as yet another signs that once again I had survived.

We all have scars, physical and emotional. They are not signs of damage or loss, spoils or faults,  but signs that you survived. They are marks that say – I fought, I got bruised, but I won.

John 20:26-27  Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

 

(This title and idea is not my own, it was brought to my attention by a wonderful person called Barry Woodward who has an incredible story of freedom from heroine addiction - please listen to his story and visit his site at www.proclaimtrust.org )