How do you view the scars on your life? Do see them as ugly imperfections or do you see them as where Jesus was saving your life? Ozias left the hospital with three very noticeable scars. One on each wrist and one on his forehead. The story of those scars brings tears to my eyes. In the first few hours of his life outside the womb the doctors were attempting to administer life saving medicine through IV's. Because of his extreme prematurity his veins were incredibly small and kept rupturing under the pressure from the IV. The medicine that helped control his blood pressure then burned his fragile skin. When my fingers run across one of his scars it immediately takes me back to "that" room with "that" doctor having "that" conversation that went something like this..... We need to get a good line so that we can continue to give him the medicine that he needs to keep his blood pressure stabilized. The recent attempts to find a vein have been unsuccessful and have caused him to become very stressed. We will let him rest and then find a vein and thread a line directly to his heart to make sure that we have a good way to give him medicine and fluids. Called a PIV line..... That conversation was one of three moments that I can recall being scared during our entire NICU stay. I needed to know were there other options should that line burst? Was that our last hope? The doctor calmly explained that should this PIV line not work, they had two other options to try. It wasn't the doctors words that calmed my deepest fears though. It was after we went back to my hospital room and cried out to God. Please guide the neonatologist's hands to find the right vein. Please make a way for the life saving medicine Lord. In that moment there was a peace that filled the room as we remembered that God was in control. Jesus was in charge of saving his life. We went back to see Ozias a few hours later and he was resting peacefully with a new PIV line placed perfectly. The scars on his tiny body remind me of what God brought him through to be here with us today.
Now take a look at the scars on your own life. Maybe it was the loss of a job, or a relationship. Maybe the death of a dream. Whatever it was that didn't go according to plan and left a wound on you that turned into a scar. Run your fingers over that place and ask God to show you how he was using that very moment in your life. How he didn't abandon you during that time but rather he was busying himself with saving your life. Finding a different way to give you exactly what you needed. Some people see scars as imperfections but really they are reminders to Jesus' healing power.
