Scars and Stripes

It has been a while since I have sat down to write, but I feel compelled today to share something heart wrenching and real. Today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving and all is supposed to be right with the world. Everyone is happy about friends and family gathering to celebrate. I have been one of those people...going on my merry way...until today.

Today, I had a rude awakening about my savior.

Today, I saw the brutality of His murder.

Today, I realized how much He WILLING endured - just for me!

Now, I have been walking this walk a long time, and I think that the longer you walk it, the easier it is to paint nice little pictures of the pain He endured and to think fondly upon what He did for us at Calvary.

I have been unable to stop crying today as the reality of this event has sunk deep into my soul. I have asked for clarity from God about my tears and why am I unable to stop them. The best way I know to explain it is that I feel raw, open and vulnerable to everything. I sensed that my heavenly father wanted me know true sorrow - without cause, (i.e. no one hurt me, no one did anything to me...I just felt heart broken) so that I would feel what He feels when we take His sacrifice lightly. We do it all the time, we tell a white lie, we make a bad choice, we take the wrong path, we are selfish with our life or time...when we know all along what He wants us to do.

Meanwhile, all around me today there is pain. Hurting people. People needing something more than me...and of course, all I have to offer them is Jesus. Which of course is enough...well, actually, more than enough!

But today, it means more to say that He is enough because the prophesies fulfilled in Him that "by His stripes we are healed" means more to me today than it has in a long time.

We take time to stop and celebrate Veteran's Day to thank those men and women who bravely put themselves in harms way just so we can have the freedoms we have today...I now have a new found respect for the "scars and stripes" that my Jesus suffered on my behalf so many years ago to give me ultimate freedom - a relationship with my heavenly Father. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! My new Thanksgiving celebration is for the one, the only one, who could truly save me from this very sick and dying world! Though the world around me may crumble, still I will praise you Lord!

So to anyone who might be reading this and hurting, Jesus is all you really need. He can heal it all because He bore ALL that pain, ALL that rejection, ALL that sorrow when He died on the cross for me and for you.