He Makes the Ouches Doable

I went and got my Covid booster y’all. I hope you can say the same. I was tickled after it was over as I examined my adhesive bandage. I didn’t particularly care for it; there was no catchy saying or a beloved character on it – but I do recall a time that no matter what accident or incident preceded the trauma, something about placing a bandage of some sort made everything okay. Fast forward a few decades and the pain I experience now requires a whole triage unit, but yet in still, attention to my wounds, whether in the physical or emotional is really what makes everything okay. No matter how mature we are, we all want to know, need to experience that we are seen, heard and valued, and even the more as we experience and navigate the challenges that life brings. God knew that when were created and as such, allows us to be in community with each another to serve as salve to one another. But what happens when we feel as though we have nothing left to give or to share because our wounds are exposed? Perhaps the “bandaid” was lost, or for some of us, we’ve had the bandaid on so long that its removal may potentially be more explosively painful as the original trauma itself. How do we make the ouches doable?

He never said it would easy. He never said it would not hurt. He did say, “In all things, give thanks.” That means electing gratitude, even as we travail. Matthew 7:13-14 decrees, “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” This suggests that the ouches are doable as we seek the presence and clarity of God! Only our Creator has a perpetual supply of bandages accompanied by the kiss of assurance that “everything will be okay.” After all, nothing comes to Him by surprise. Everything that we encounter goes through God first before scraping us. As we sit in the “waiting rooms” of life, we must believe and hold to the fact that God’s intensions are for us to have life, and that more abundantly. Abundance can present in abrasion. God covers us when we feel exposed. He heals us where we’ve been devoured. He makes the ouches doable – every single one. He’s better than a bandaid. He sticks to us way better than one as well, one boo boo at a time.