For The Wounded.

I believe everyone has been wounded to some degree in this life.
We are not made for this world, so it is only natural that pain will come while we wait for the day when we are called home.

Pain was not in the original design.
The design was peace.
The design was to live in sunshine, in purity, in a place where we forever drank of the rivers of Christ's love for us.

The design was to dance with no fear in the garden of freedom, not the forest of guilt, shame and brokenness.

Yet, here we are.
In a world full of so much hurt and turmoil.
A world full of disease and hate.
A world full of trials and testing.

We screwed up the original design.
Why?

Because we are man.
Man screws things up.
Man sins.


Man wounds.

We wounded our Creator, we wound ourselves and we certainly wound one another.

Last night I sat on the bed with my best friend, my husband and exposed the wounds I had ignored for years.
Wounds I had slapped a band-aid on in hopes that if I didn't have to see them, I wouldn't have to deal with them. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work.
You can't slap a band-aid on a bullet hole and expect it to do the job. 
If you don't eventually expose the wound and deal with it, you will bleed out.
It will be fatal.

I was wounded years ago and have mentioned that wound on multiple occasions here, because I want my writing to be real and raw and relevant.
You can't be relevant if you're afraid of people seeing your dark corners. 
Nobody wants to listen to someone who appears they have always rocked a #blessedlife and are constantly walking in a #highlyfavored manner.

I have a beautiful life, but it has not always been beautiful.
It has had it's dark days.
It has seen it's days of not getting out of bed because I no longer wanted to be awake.
I have been wounded.

I was shot in the chest and blamed myself for that wound for so long that I just covered it in embarrassment and chose to shove it off.
As a strong girl, I thought to be strong I had to bandage the wound and shrug it off, reassuring myself and Christ that I was okay-that I had it all under control.

The truth?
True strength is exposing those wounds.
True strength is letting your wounds breathe not only in the presence of Jesus, but those who love us most.


It all seems pretty hopeless really-
that is, until we turn to the One wounded first.

What does He say about the broken hearted?
What does He say about the wounded?

When Jesus came back after conquering death, after winning the ultimate battle, He didn't come back to Earth and show those He loved brand new, unscarred skin.
Jesus, the Creator of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, came back from the battle still showing and exposing His wounds.

He showed the disciples whom He loved the holes in His hands and His feet.
He exposed His wounds openly.

Not only did He boldly come and expose His wounds, He didn't place blame anywhere.
He didn't place blame on the Father or on the world ( even if we, the world, did deserve it ).
He simply exposed the wounds and healed us through those wounds.

Seems odd to say that wounds were what healed us, but God likes to shake things up.
I don't know what you were wounded by.
I don't know what about your wounds brings about shame or guilt or maybe even anger.

Maybe you were wounded by disease.
Maybe you were wounded by divorce.
Maybe you were wounded by deceit.

Maybe you played a hand in your own wounds, but maybe you didn't.

Jesus hung naked on a cross, alone.
He was mocked by the same people who had years prior clung to His garments.
He was denied by the same people who had shared meals with Him, who had promised to never wound Him in any way.

Yet, despite it all, Jesus came bearing His wounds not with anger, not with shame, not with fear...but with a bold, fierce, gentle, open love.
He healed us with the same wounds that we inflicted.

I think Christ desires for us to follow His example in every way we humanly can-including how we deal with our wounds.

That looks a little like this:

1. Don't hide your wounds.
2. Expose your wounds to those you love.
3. Don't place blame anywhere (that includes on yourself).

It would be easy for me to continue to slap band-aids on my bullet holes until I simply bled out.
It would be easy for me to tell my husband, "I'm okay. I'm a big girl. I got this handled. Don't worry about me"
It would be easy for me to blame the one who inflicted my wounds or even blame myself.

Following Jesus will not be easy, ever.
This won't be either.

The Cross was a necessity to save the world and sometimes our wounds are a necessity to launch us forward or even heal those around us.

When a young woman comes to me, hurt by the sex industry, I can show her my wounds.
When a young woman comes to me, hurt by her spouse, the one who was designed to protect her heart at all costs...
I can show her my wounds.

Being silent and hiding your wounds could be detrimental to not only you, but someone else that cries to you for help.

If a woman came to me wounded and showed her gaping bullet hole and I chose to hide my own, she would turn away, possibly more wounded before.

Show your wounds to those you love, but also to the other wounded.

I could live ashamed of the wound I have been given.
I could hide my wound in shame.
I could be silent about how pornography was the loaded gun that blew a hole into my world and my chest.
I could.

Or I could boldly expose that wound.

I could, with head up and chin up, speak up about my wound so that other women everywhere would know that it's okay to be wounded, because I myself am wounded too.

I don't know what wound you're trying to bandage up on your own in the dark, but it's time to let it see the Sun.

Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.


1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.