scars, flaws, and people.

Amazing how the words would simply spill out after all this time. Where there was once a dam, now the water runs clear and cool and sweet. As if the letters, the very words were dancing, and where there was pain now there is joy. Freedom. Light. The days are quickly slipping by, but once again they are beginning to fill with the Call that was heard and answered long ago. This time, however, it is answered with scars carried proudly. Scars that are gladly born, scars that proved to teach and strengthen, scars that once I would have cast off, but now I am more thankful for far more than anything else in my life. I am a product of grace. What I carry is a product of His grace as well. And I am thankful for a love that is not easy, a love that looks at me and loves me enough to allow pain and heartbreak in order to strip away what needs to be gone, only to give back in an even greater measure all that is for my good! This is grace. I am a product of it and I am filled with more joy than I will ever be able to express because of this.

Cast off is the need to seem perfect, without flaws. It's the craziest thing when we try to act like we've got it all together. That's not life. Life isn't perfect. Jesus is perfect. Life definitely is not perfect. At all. And I'm learning to embrace the craziness that life is, the wonderful, beautiful, imperfect way that life is. It's made all the more beautiful for being full to overflowing with flaws! Flaws keep it all interesting, they keep people interesting.

And if you meet someone who would have you think they don't have any, well, it's kinda creepy. You know the person I'm talking about. The one whom you question to be human, whose tone is always perfect, never getting upset about anything, never showing frustration at all…ever…the one who is absolutely 100% unrelatable and unattainable. It makes us uncomfortable because, at the end of the day, we KNOW we've ALL got some major flaws going on. Then, you meet that person who is transparent, who doesn't act like they've got it all together, who admits to struggling with whatever and then have the most amazing advice on how to get beyond the struggles, beyond the frustrations that this life holds and it's like you've had a breath of fresh air in your lungs! Here is someone whom you can look at and relate to! This is the kind of person that does not stop at telling you about how, yeah, they're not perfect, but constantly reminds you that Jesus is and they are His child, and so through Him have the victory. They don't accept that you have flaws and you can just stay right there and not do anything about them. No! They tell you to get your butt up and RUN to the Living God as fast as your feet will carry you because nothing else will ever make a difference or satisfy your longings.

These people are rare and far between I'm finding. So, if I happen to come across them, I hold on for dear life because they are the ones that I treasure to tell me when I'm not doing what I should and who praise me when I am. They are the ones who validate the way I'm feeling and then firmly let me know that feelings are not to be relied upon or used as an excuse to dictate my feelings. They are the ones who hug me tight and then turn me around and shove me in the direction I need to be going. They are valuable because they know that the struggle is real, but He is greater still. Far greater than anything I would complain about, far greater than any flaw or struggle. They are valuable because, at the end of our talk or time together, I want even more of Jesus and always leave with my eyes on Him.

Yes, we all carry scars and we are flawed. But, the greater reality is that beyond all of this, we are children of the King of Kings. He bought us with a price and we are His. So, let's start living like this is who we are! We are royal and worthy of Jesus, because He has made us new. 

Carry your scars proudly, but at the end of the day, be the one who is transparent. Do not let the scars and flaws dictate who you are, but don't deny that they are there. Be transparent in a way that shows exactly who you are in Him.

"And praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame." -Joel 2:26