“Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].”     – 1 John 3:18 AMP

We all have different faces we wear when we walk among other people. Some refer to them as masks, as if we are in costume and putting on a show for those around us. I believe it is more than that. I believe that we, as God’s children, are gifted with the ability to adapt to our surroundings, as this is a way we can connect and bond with our earthly brothers and sisters. This is how we help one another bear the burdens of life.

I have lived a life with an extremely diverse compilation of experiences. First and foremost, I am a woman and a daughter of God. I am a soldier, no longer in the army, but still a soldier at heart. I am a nurse, both in profession and in personality. As a woman, I have been blessed with many gifts for which I am extremely grateful, such as the ability to multitask, to freely show love and compassion, patience, and from what I am told, a gentle and calming nature. As a nurse, I am able to empathize with those in my care, and have a natural intuition about how best to meet their needs in the moment. And as a soldier, I have been blessed with strength and a certain intestinal fortitude, which carries me through many trials and tribulations.

While each aspect of my personality comes with it’s own set of gifts, each one also comes with it’s own set of baggage, which have all been packed to the breaking point with memories and experiences. My woman bag is packed with relationship struggles and leaden bricks of self-esteem smashing events spanning more than 40 years. My nurse tote is made from the heavy fabric of responsibility and packed with lost patients, stressful shifts, and the dark shadow of fear that a significant mistake is just around the corner. My soldier duffle is loaded down with physical and mental challenges faced in training, as well as a year spent in the Iraqi desert, with the top of the bag secured by a specially made PTSD padlock.

The weight of the baggage I carry is real, but I am learning how to let God help me carry it. Not only does He help me carry it, but as I allow Him to fill my heart and mind, He is gradually turning all that weight into tools He can use to help other people. If I had not experienced what I did in the military, I would not relate as easily to the Veterans I care for in my nursing zone. My status as a Veteran makes it much easier for other Veterans to open up and allow me behind their well protected walls. As a woman and a nurse, I’ve been through such a wide array of circumstances that I’m able to connect with people from all walks of life with very little effort.

As I was contemplating a situation that has been weighing on my heart for several weeks now, I could feel the toll my frequent contemplation was taking on my psyche. I found myself carried back in time to my days as an inpatient nurse, and the “total care” patients we frequently had on the floor. When referring to a patient who requires total care, I mean that they are literally unable to do anything much of their own volition, including change their physical position to any significant degree. With these patients, it is critically important that they are turned and shifted in their beds at least every two hours. We will move them from their right side to their back, and then from their back to their left side, and so on. With each move, we use foam wedges and pillows and rolled blankets to keep them positioned accordingly. The purpose of this is to prevent bed sores from forming as a result of laying on the same patches of skin for extended periods of time.

It didn’t take me long to understand what God was showing me…when we spend too much time dwelling on the various issues and worries that plague our lives, we will form mental bed sores. I would venture to guess that most of us have a small collection of these wounds that have formed over the years. The longer we dwell on our mental and emotional pains, the more atrophied our emotional muscles get, making it ever more difficult to turn our minds away from those growing wounds.

However, we are blessed with an internal wound care nurse…the spirit of God is there, waiting for us to allow Him to help us shift our thoughts. He is there, ready to help us get up out of our emotional ruts and walk. We must choose to accept God’s help, just as a patient must accept the help of nurses and physical therapists. Just as it is painful for patients to walk through the healing process of physical wounds and illnesses, it will be painful for us to walk through the healing process of our emotional wounds. But in both cases, it must be done in order to become whole, healthy, and able to use our experiences to help facilitate healing in those around us.

Yes, we all have wounds and scars from all manner of unseen spiritual injuries. But these are nothing to be ashamed of or hidden away. To the contrary, they allow others to see that there is life beyond pain. More importantly, God is able to use us more effectively because of those wounds and scars. We are able to be a living, breathing testimony of the power of faith and the love of God at work in our lives. When faced with a painful situation in your life, who are you more likely to trust: one who can tell you what they believe it might feel like to face the same situation, or one who has already faced something similar and come out the other side stronger and wiser? Don’t be ashamed of your scars…I promise there is someone out there who really needs to see them.

“Guard my soul and rescue me; Do not let me be ashamed or disappointed, for I have taken refuge in you.” – Psalm 25:20 AMP