Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

I just sent out this week's evotional. Every week I email a written version of my weekend message. It's a double dose for NCCers. And I hope it's a resource for other pastors. For a free subsciption, you can visit www.theaterchurch.com.

Here's a short excerpt from this week's evotional:

Scars

I've got physical scars all over my body. I have scars from knee surgeries; a lead pencil that poked through the palm of my hand; a scar on my wrist from a suitcase that closed on my hand. But the most prominent scar is an eighteen-inch scar right down the middle of my abdomen. The doctor's had to cut me open to perform emergency surgery after my intestines ruptured.

I used to be embarrassed by the scar on my stomach. Adults would politely avert their eyes. But kids would stare at me. I felt like a freak show. Kids would actually come up to me and ask me what happened.

And that was embarrassing me at first. But then the scar because a source of healthy pride. My near-death experience was life-changing. God taught me lessons that can't be learned any other way. I wouldn't want to go through anything like that again, but it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Some of us are embarrassed by our relational scars. Don't be! Learn from them. Even take pride in them. You can become a stronger person because of them. A bad relationship can translate into a better marriage, stronger friendships, and healthier family. You don't have to make the same mistakes. You can break the cycle!

Jacob walked with a limp after wrestling with God. He was physically scarred. But that physical scar was a reminder that God had healed the relational wound left by a father that didn't love him for who he was.

Every limp was a reminder of God's blessing!