Chase the Fun by Annie F. Downs

Author:Annie F. Downs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion/Christian Life/Inspiration;Play—Religious aspects—Christianity;Recreation—Religious aspects—Christianity;Laughter—Religious aspects—Christianity;Amusements—Religious aspects—Christianity;REL012040;REL012130;REL012070
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-05-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chase the Fun

Write down what you learned from the last time you dealt with failure. Take a moment to be grateful for that lesson.

DAY 52

Fall in Love with Your Scars

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

ROMANS 5:3–5

I have a scar on my knee. Every time I see it, I remember the story of how it got there. I’m transported to the smell of grass and mud and sweat. The sound of cleats and kicks, of classmates and parents yelling from the stands . . . then the sudden stop of all the sounds and the collective gasp when I fell. The blur of my coach and our team’s trainer surrounding me, helping me up, assuring me I’d be okay. The injury that caused that scar also caused the end of my soccer “career.” Now, as you know, I just play for fun.

That’s the thing about scars: they tell a story. And while it’s a story of pain, the middle and end of the story point to healing. Because the healing process is what changes a wound to a scar. It’s that way with physical scars, but it’s that way with spiritual and emotional scars too.

The hurt you experienced at church. (Been there.) When the friend you thought was loyal betrayed you. (There too.) The breakup when you thought it was going to last. (No thanks.) The unfulfilled dreams. (Why?) Job loss, a scary diagnosis, disappointment, miscarriage.

We have the option to shift our perspective from “scars are evidence of wounds” to “scars are evidence of healing.” It’s a slight shift when you see it on paper, but I know it’s easier said than done. It takes hope that something good can come out of a circumstance that feels only bad. It takes opening up our hearts and our hands and our eyes to see if we can find the gifts in the healing.

A gift like unexpected strength. You get a few weeks, months, years down the road and look back and see a confidence and resolve in yourself that you didn’t know you were capable of. Or a gift like empathy that enables you to see the difficulty others are walking through with a new level of compassion. And ultimately, healing gives the gift of hope. When you’ve been wounded and seen the way God heals, you have assurance that He can do it again and again. You know you’re going to be okay.

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