I found several unfinished drafts in my draft folder of my blog.  I decided to publish them as is. They are what they are.

From August 4, 2008:

Scars

I had a dream a couple nights ago. I dreamed that my brother had came home, and I was seeing him for the first time since all that happened. I dreamed that he showed me his scars on his arm and wrist. I woke up thinking about this, and I thought a lot all day long about scars.

We get wounds that leave scars in a lot of different ways. Sometimes, we wound ourselves on purpose. Self-inflicted wounds that leave scars that speak to us of hurt and pain and shame and anger. Sometimes, other people wound us. They wound us on purpose and they wound us without really meaning to. Those wounds leave scars. Sometimes, our wounds come about by no one’s doing. They just happen. Accidents, sicknesses, births, etc. They can all wound us and we can’t do anything about it. It’s just something that happens. Even these wounds leave scars.

If you’re reading this and trying to figure out where I’m going…if I’m speaking of literal wounds or figurative…well, I’m speaking of both. The same principles that apply to literal, physical wounds can also apply to metaphorical and emotional wounds. Regardless of why or how the wound was caused, if it’s a bad wound, it’s going to scar.

The thing I was thinking about is that the difference in the severity of the scar is in how the wound is dealt with. Even the most gruesome, self-inflicted wound can heal to leave a scar that is not that bad if it’s treated properly. If you get the proper medical attention…soothing ointment, stitches to close the wound, etc….and keep it infection free, you could end up with a rather minor scar. At the same time, you could trip and cut yourself on something unintentionally, slap a band-aid on it, and it scar pretty badly.

When I was a little girl, I cut my knee open, and, because I was terrified of the thought of getting stitches, my mom gave in to me and just put butterfly band-aids on it to close it up. My knee healed just fine, but it left a pretty bad scar to this day. When I was older, I dropped a blade on the top of my foot, and cut it open. I got stitches in this cut, and, today, you can barely see the scar. The wounds themselves were probably pretty equal in the size and depth of the cut, but it was the way that they were treated that made the difference in how severe the resulting scar ended up. The same thing applies to emotional wounds. It’s how they are treated that determine the scar that you are left with.

So how do you treat these emotional wounds? Whether your emotional wounds are self inflicted (addictions, self-injury, etc.), inflicted on you by others (physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse, etc.), or wounds that just happen outside of your control (miscarriage, accidents, loss of loved one, disease, etc.), they have to be treated if we are to live fulfilling lives. How do we do this? I ask the question because I, as well as some people I love a lot, have wounds that need healing. I can’t leave them to fester and scar. I need to deal with them.

As I contemplated all of these things yesterday, some verses came to my mind. I believe God was answering my heart’s wondering.

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5

Our wounds are healed by his wounds!

He came to this earth, lived, and died to bind up our wounds. To bring our healing.

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