Scars - disfiguring or beautifying

A friend allerted me to an interesting article this morning about scars that reveal our past and can mark us as potential victims for predators on the hunt.

Yes, we always bear the scars as Jesus carried scars in His hands as well. Those of us who carry scars born out of abuse damage and wounds are marked until eternity comes. But we can be marked for His glory. And that is my goal - that my scars will invite others to the redemptive power God has over ANY THING that has been done to us, or that we have done to ourselves born out of poor choices from the unhealthy survival dance we learned during our times of abuse.

We can be a target. We do show telltale signs of our story. Give me a room full of woman for about 30 minutes of chatting and I can usually pick out those who are carrying a deep secret of some sort of harm.

I attempted to tell my story a few times when my survival dance wasn't working and the thoughts of suicide were too prevalent. Three times I spoke with pastors/counselors who saw me as prey. They were hiding their own personal sexual addictions and addictions to pornography under their cloak of "pastor" to find abuse victims to entangle in their web for their own personal use.

After the second encounter with such a wolf in sheep's clothing, I said I would never speak of my abuse again. And I held onto that vow until I was 50! Then God brought a series of circumstances and people into my life to bring me back to the journey of unpacking my story. Sadly, even that process brought the third pastor and his web.

I was deceived and distraught when truth was made clear to me. But..........God had a plan. I can walk with women who have been woven into the same trap because of the story God allowed in my life and I can help them on their journey toward healing. I have a gift of discernment that spots unhealthy men in particular, pretty quickly. So, evil meant it for harm, but God uses that part of my story for His good.

I am pretty vigilant and extremely perceptive of unsafe relationships because of my life experiences. And this can be women, too. It can be relationships that attempt to entice me to agree to things that aren't on God's plan for me; not necessarily unhealthy choices, but things that I'm not gifted or called to accomplish. Satan is very cunning and shows up in a variety of ways and in both genders.

The article is a good reminder to me that I WILL NOT compromise anything to play into the hands of someone who might try to entice me with niceties and win me over in unhealthy ways. I am so sad to realize that predators exist in EVERY walk of life and love to hide in christian entities to look for prey.