We all have wounds and scars. A wound is trauma that has affected us in which we have not healed from. We still feel pain when we think about a wound. A scar is a traumatic event or experience that we have forgiven and healed from. So we remember what hurt us, but we don’t feel pain anymore. When we choose to forgive, we turn those wounds into scars.
Before you read this, I want you to think about someone or something that has hurt you. When you think about this, how does it make you feel? Did you feel peace? Or did you feel anger, resentment, or sadness? Hold on to that feeling as you continue reading.
In the 7 days I have been in Colombia, the common theme has been forgiveness. Forgiveness for the things we have done, for the things that have been done to us, and for the people who have hurt us. I always thought forgiveness could be done in a one time prayer to God and then I could check it off my to do list. I thought I could forgive and forget and then my life would carry on with no hurt. That simply is not true. This wasn’t evident to me until a few days ago when I met kids who have experienced hurt that most adults haven’t experienced and probably will not experience in their lifetime. That’s when I realized I haven’t experienced true forgiveness for the events and people that have hurt me.
Manantiales is the second largest internally displaced zone in Colombia. These families have been run out of their homes by drug and gang violence and have been forced to live in extreme poverty. But one thing this community does have is children on fire for God.
In order to demonstrate what forgiveness and healing looks like, my team acted out the “Everything” skit (see below). This skit focuses on the spiritual warfare being fought for our souls. In this skit, the girl experiences God’s creation and love but then sets her eyes on the World instead of God. She starts to indulge in greed, lust, drugs, alcohol, and self harm and then is pulled into a depression because she starts to believe in the lies that she is told, which brings her to contemplating suicide. Once she has finally had enough, she remembers the source of her joy and turns to God who is anxiously waiting for her return. This isn’t easy for her at first. She has all of these things that have built a wall between her and God. It is a WAR to get back to Him, BUT when she asks for forgiveness, the sin is stripped from her and God is able to fend off the evil that is trying to attack her.
When asked who resonated with this skit, every single child raised their hand. That was only the beginning of understanding the wounds in this community.
Later, the kids were asked to come to the front of the room if they needed forgiveness. Almost all of them walked up there, but one boy stood right next to me. I began to pray for him and I felt the weight that he was carrying on his shoulders. I opened my eyes to see tears streaming down his face. All I could think was, “what has this 12 year old endured to have such pain in his eyes?” After this the kids were asked to take 5 minutes to pray to God about the wounds they had that needed to be healed. As I walked around to pray for the girls in my group, all I could hear was crying. They were then asked to write these wounds on a piece of construction paper and to lay it at the feet of Jesus. They didn’t need to tell me their stories for me to understand what they have gone through. What they needed was to be shown mercy and that there is a way to heal their wounds.
A few things to remember:
- Forgiveness does not mean to forget.
- Just like it takes time for a wound to heal, it takes time to forgive. Don’t rush it.
- In order to know the depths of true joy, you have to experience the depths of sorrow and pain.
- God is always waiting for you.
So let me ask you, what wounds need to be healed in your life?
