Does your life bear scars? If so, you’ll be encouraged by my guest today. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and the last time we met, we heard from my friend Linda Barrick, a lovely young woman who suffered terrible injuries when the car in which she and her family were driving was hit head-on by a drunk driver. Just listen to what she has to say…
LINDA: I knew God’s Word and I had studied God’s Word and ever since I had been a child, I loved the Lord with all my heart. But I just became dead inside and one day I just, you know I just started weeping and I told the Lord, you know, “What is wrong with me?” And I confessed just how I had been feeling and the Lord started speaking to my heart and he said, “Linda, you have to let go and you have to trust Me.” And God reminded me that I have to remember in the darkness what God had taught me in the light. And one of those things that God had taught me was to bow and surrender my day to the Lord and I would ask God to empty me of all that was me and fill me with his power. I wanted to walk in the power of his Holy Spirit that day, and that was something I couldn’t do anymore in the wheelchair. I had not been able to physically bow and kneel and I was forgetting to go to God every morning and ask him for the strength that I needed that day. And God reminded me, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a wheelchair, you can bow and surrender to me every day. And I promised the Lord when I got out of that wheelchair that I would never again take for granted the ability to be able to bow on my knees before him.
I think as women especially, we don’t like scars – we don’t like physical scars – and yet, God has reminded me that they’re not scars, they’re beauty marks of his faithfulness. And sometimes God takes us through times that are hard and painful and he never promises to deliver us from the trial, but he promises to deliver us through the trial. And he is always with us and he never leaves us or forsakes us. And he wants to take all of those past mistakes, past failures, broken dreams… all of those pieces of our life and he wants to put us back together again and turn our scars into beauty marks of his faithfulness if we’ll let him. He wants to do that for each one of us and I know those of you listening, you may not have physical scars, but you might have emotional scars, and those can hurt so much worse. And I’m reminded that Jesus went to the cross for each one of us and died and he has scars too – the nail prints in his hands. And he did that because he loved us so much and so don’t ever be ashamed of your scars. They are beauty marks of God’s faithfulness. God never wastes a pain or a tear or a trial. He promises to use everything for his glory.
JONI: And you know, as I look at your face, I can’t help but see your scars, because one of them runs right across your forehead and across the bridge of your nose. So when I look into your eyes, I have to look at your scars. But when I look at them, I agree with you that they are beauty marks and they are also marks of God’s ownership on you and his way of engraving you on the palm of his hand. And in a way he has engraved himself across your face and you can’t miss it when you see you smile.
Thanks, Linda. Her spirit, her attitude, and the glow on her face honestly, and I mean really turned that scar into a beauty mark. And we all know the purpose of a beauty mark, right? It’s a mark that draws attention to something beautiful about you. And God has given Linda just such a mark. A scar that you can almost say is lovely. So, thank you Linda for reminding us all where the beauty really comes from: our beautiful Savior whose scars are lovely reminders of his grace and goodness. See what we’ve got going today at joniandfriendsradio.org and share a few comments with me while you’re there.
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