It's okay to hurt.

Hurting
Broken
Scarred
Scared
Worried
Crying
Questioning

All traits of being human, but no one wants to anyone else to see that side of them. We all want to put on masks to cover up our mistakes, our sin, our hurt, our past. The last thing we desire is to put on display how we really feel.

I believe this is a problem. The scars we have are because of the past we have, but don't need to hold onto anymore. The scars show the person we once were and what we once went through, and more importantly, how they've shaped us to become the person we are today.

But what if that person isn't so perfect?

No one is! The only perfect human who ever walked this Earth was named Jesus. And let me tell you, in his perfect he never sinned but he did cry. He hurt. He even questioned God. He felt troubled and a little apprehensive. He hurt and has permanent scars. The thing is, he doesn't ever dare hide them. He shows off his scars because it showcases the work of the Father and the gift each one of us is given, whether or not we receive it is left up to us.

Striving for perfection? Jesus is a pretty good model to imitate since he was and is and will be forever, perfect.

Even though John 11:35 is the most well known as the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept.", it holds so much more! Those two words to me, show Jesus' hurting, emotion, and humanity. It showed his heart.

It showed his heart and love for Martha, Mary, and the other Jews who were weeping with them. He hurt with others when they hurt. He felt their pain and did his best the alleviate that pain. (In this case, he raised Lazarus, their sole reason for weeping, from the dead! What a way to bring relief!)

In our culture, we see hurt as a problem that needs to be covered up because it's not pretty, not perfect. In reality, the most perfect person to walk this Earth, Jesus, hurt!

It's okay to hurt and feel pain, because Jesus even felt hurt and pain. It happens, has happened, and will happen again. It's part of having a heart and being human. But those thorns that cause us horribly pain leave us with ugly scars will one day show the glory of God far better than a smooth clear life. It might not seem like it now, but it will. That's a promise God gives us to hold onto.

Psalm 116:7-9

Be at rest once more, O my soul, 

for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears, 

my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.