I've been thinking about scars lately. We all have them, in some form or fashion. Some are physical, some are emotional, but all of us carry them with us. And it's our choice what we will do with them. We can choose to let them constantly remind us of the pain we've experienced, to hold us captive to the past; or we can choose to let them remind us of our victories and take strength and courage from them to move forward.
In the past eleven months I have gained five new scars on my body. I was actually opened up in six different places, but one of them went through an old abdominal scar, so only five new scars. If you connect the dots on my belly, it actually forms a smile, with one large dimple!
My daughter, Sarah, had surgery a couple of months ago and she has four new scars on her body. Her dot-to-dot smile is on the upper right side of her abdomen.
We were comparing and discussing our scars one day and I was happy to know that Sarah wasn't bothered by her scars. She has chosen to see them as something positive. And I wholeheartedly agree. Scars, for me, are signs of life! I've been in the battle, I fought for my life, I fought for my family, and I WON! Bring on the scars! They just remind me that God has been good to me!
We've been singing a new worship song at COF called "Let Our God Be Praised" by Chad Cates, Barry Weeks, and Michael Farren. The chorus goes like this:
To the One who reigns forever, to the One the seas obey
To the One who holds the heavens, let the nations stand amazed
For His mercy and His kindness, for His never-ending grace
For His love that’s ever reaching
Oh, let our God, let our God be praised
It's that same mercy, kindness, and never-ending grace that left me with scars - signs of life from the "One who holds the heavens" - and I am grateful!
My newest scar, where the ileostomy used to be, actually looks somewhat like a gunshot wound. Maybe that's what I'll tell people it is! I'm thinking that may be a more interesting story to tell! : )
News Flash: I zipped AND buttoned my jeans for the first time in eight months today!
What a neat post!
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday, Brooke told me that her belly looked like a Mommy...why you might ask? Because her panties had left a line on her lower abdomen that resembled my c-section scar.
It was a neat moment for me that she recognized that it was from that "wound" that life came.
Thank you for the reminder!
And that is so great about your pants...
I came up with another thing you should never do when dealing with bowel issues...never, and I repeat never, tie the drawstring on your sweat pants. You never know when it will get stuck in a knot. Don't ask me how I know : )
I wholeheartedly agree! Battle scars are signs of life !!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat picture...a smiley face with a dimple! How cute!
We saved a Rottweiler puppy from a breeder who was letting her die because she had been bitten and had ...well...maggots...all in her wound and maggots are good for a certain length of time until they eat through to the organ. Anyways, she had a 50% chance of survival and I had to take ever hour to flush out maggots from her wound...yeah..ew...
But
Anyways
Your smiley dimple face reminded me of this because, yes she did survive. The hair never grew back around that area and so she just had a bald spot scar in the shape of a large "C"...which is our last name initial. :) It was like she was branded. :)
Best dog ever!