Scars Understood

Lately, I've been listening to a beautiful song by MercyMe called "The Hurt and the Healer" and it's gotten me thinking about some events of my life where I end up asking the question "Why?" "Why did I have to go through that painful experience?"  "Why did things turn out that way when I was expecting something so different?"  "Why does it have to hurt so much?"

At those times I feel like I need an answer in order to move forward.  In all honesty, I feel like a deserve an answer for the suffering I've gone through and the scars that I bear.  I seem to believe that if I could just know the "why" then I could make sense of it and move on.

It's not that I don't understand the value of trials and suffering.  They build strength, perseverance, and character.  Sometimes it may take some time before I see those results in my life, but when I do, I'm grateful for the pain I had to go through.  But there are those experiences that wound and I never see the benefit from the resulting scar.

A few years back, I fell and broke my hip which resulted in the need for two surgeries to repair the break.  Both surgeries left scars.  I don't question the reason for those scars because I understand the need for them. They brought healing to brokenness.

But sometimes we bear scars where we simply can't see any good resulting from them.  They make no sense to us and that in itself brings added pain.

The question I have to face at those times, is do I trust that God has a purpose for the pain and that someday those scars will be healed and understood when I stand before Him?  Do I trust Him enough to move forward with my unanswered questions , believing that He will use every bit of the struggles and pain that I surrender to Him, for His glory? 

As the song I've been listening to says, there will be a time "when the hurt and the Healer collide,"  and eventually, all of our scars will be undestood.  I want to move forward in that knowledge... beyond the scars and pain... to the glory that awaits.