The Ultimate Band-Aid

My 3 year-old son's medicine cabinet has several boxes of band-aids... plain, colorful, small, large, circle, square and even some superheros. He asks for band-aids even when there's no tear on the skin, no blood shed, no nothing... if there's a "boo boo", a band-aid is requested and/or he asks, "Mommy, can you kiss it to make it better?"

It's amazing how parallel this is with how we are as adults. We are so quick to put a band-aid on our emotional pain. Some of us are putting band-aids on cuts that require stitches then wondering why our wounds aren't yet healed. When bleeding non-stop or internally, it generally means more specialized medical attention is required. On the other end of the spectrum, some of us simply ignore our pains because we think that if we don't acknowledge it, the pain is numbed or its somehow less real. And some of us pick and poke at a wound so much that we don't even give it time or allow it to heal.

I have a scar on my right wrist that everyone thinks is a birth mark but when I was 4 years old, I burned myself on a kerosene heater. I have a small slit/indention above my right eye from when I was about 6 years old, I ran into the door as my cousin slammed it shut causing the lock on the door knob to cut me. There's a cut mark on my right thumb from when I tried to use a sharp knife to open up some green slime out of one of those plastic bubble gum balls. And I can't even begin to mention all the tomboy scars on my legs from chicken fighting on the monkey bars, popping wheelies & doing tricks on dirt bikes, playing hood basketball or racing. I don't try to hide any of my scars because they give character... they tell a story & I actually learned something from them. I doubt I got close to that kerosene heater again and if I needed help opening slime, I learned to just ask someone for help. Hood basketball taught me how to be a better player but as for the popping wheelies & doing tricks on dirt bikes, I couldn't stop myself because the bigger the scar, the cooler it was especially for a girl. LOL

Our emotional pain also tells a story. We don't have to hide the scars but share them. Our testimony can help deliver other people but we first have to accept our own deliverance & truly move forward. When God delivers us from a situation, we shouldn't question it or look backwards but accept peace, continue in faith and embrace the journey. We may continue to acquire bruises & scars but what a blessing & assurance to know that God is a healer. Isaiah 53:4-5 says, "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Thank you Jesus for every pain, every bruise, every scar, every wound because as much as it hurt, it helped. Most importantly, thank you Jesus for deliverance, for healing, for kissing every boo boo and making it better & for simply being The Ultimate Band-Aid.