Wounds That Glow In the Dark (Part 2)
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; they loved not their lives unto the death.” Revelation 12:11
Your darkness can one day bring someone light. A person who has been through a divorce has the compassion and words needed for someone else going through a divorce. A person who’s been through abuse, rape, or an addiction can truly understand how to help someone else going through the same situation. And because you made it, God will use your wounds to glow in the dark of somebody else’s life. Your story will give them hope and encourage them to believe they can make it.
The Apostle Paul (formerly Saul of Tarsus) watched and held the coats of those stoning Stephen. As he was being stoned, the Bible said, “His face began to shine like an angel.” He had that glow. And as they stoned him, he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with my sin.” He could have asked, “Why, God? Why? I just stood for what was right, and they’re stoning me.” But he moved from his why to forgiveness. And his glow had touched a zealot’s heart by the name of Saul. At the time, Saul was a Jewish theologian who wanted to kill all the Christians. But Stephen’s glow touched him and later was radically converted on the road to Damascus. He later wrote half the New Testament, saying, “If God needs me to go through something so that I can comfort somebody else, I will.”
Don’t waste what you’ve gone through, and don’t spend the rest of your life asking why. If God lets you walk through it, it’s because He has a plan. On five different occasions, Paul was beaten with 39 stripes. That’s 195 scars on his body. Later, he said, “Three times I was beaten with rods. One time, I was stoned and left for dead. Three times, I suffered shipwrecks. I knew what it was to be afloat in the ocean a full day and night. I thought I would die.” Paul learned to keep praising God in the hard times. He used what he had been through to comfort others.
It was Paul who wrote at the end of his story, “But we know all things work together for the good,” and here’s the key, “to them that love God.” So, what do you do when hard times come? You keep loving God. You love Him if you’re winning, and you love Him if you’re losing. You praise Him if you’re healthy or if you’re suffering. If your sick loved one lives, you’re going to love Him. If they die, you’re going to love Him in your grief. If you can keep your love for God through anything this world hits you with, your wounds will never be wasted.
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