We all have liabilities. We all have scars. It is how we view them that will change our hearts. It is what we do with them that will change our lives. What is your story? Are you ready to experience the power of God working through your life as you share with others those beautiful scars in your life? Are you longing for a life-changing experience? Read this last instalment from "Your Scars are Beautiful to God" by Sharon Jaynes.
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Beauty From Ashes
Author : Sharon Jaynes
Often, if we allow Him to, God will use our deepest hurt to develop our greatest ministry. The reason our scars can be beautiful, she says, is because God gives us opportunities to invest in other people because of the struggles we’ve gone through ourselves.
For this reason, we should not despair when we experience painful circumstances. Rather, we should look for how God may want to use those circumstances.
Jaynes says, “I’ve learned over the years to stop saying, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ Instead, I say to God, ‘Okay, what now?’ This is a shattered dream, now what do I do with it? Where do I go from here?”
If we allow God to replace our wounds with scars, and we are willing to use them to help others, He will redeem even our most painful experiences.
Jaynes says, "Satan wants to use our past to paralyze us. God wants to use our past to propel us. The choice is ours."
Hope this book review has shown you how you can recognise Jesus through your scars, remove your mask & release the power of healed wounds. Give your wounds to the One who sees your beauty & who can turn your pain into purpose and heartaches into hope.
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Thursday, 28 August 2008
your scars are beautiful to God (4)
You have a scar, you have been healed but you hide your scar. Physical scars represent a story, a moment in one's life, and they show others that there is a history & a healing. Your internal scars - invisible marks from heartbreak, mistakes & losses - also represent stories of healing & restoration. Here in this 4th instalment from the book, "Your Scars are Beautiful to God", Sharon Jaynes shows how we can allow God to use our scars.
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Show Your Scars
Author : Sharon Jaynes
Once we are healed, the way we allow God to use our scars is by sharing them with others. Too often, Jaynes says, we hide our past hurts from people around us either because we are ashamed or because we fear rejection. Carrying these burdens around – something Jaynes compares to the dust cloud that follows Pigpen around in the Peanuts comic strip -- can limit the ways in which God is able to use us.
“I lost a child a long time ago,” Jaynes says, “and when that happened I didn’t want to talk to anybody except someone who had gone through the same thing I had. I think that is how most people feel when they have gone through a struggle.”
Perhaps the increase in the number of people seeking help from secular support groups supports this idea. “People are going anywhere and everywhere to find someone who has struggled with the same thing they have struggled with,” Jaynes says, “and it’s a little heartbreaking to think that they are having to go outside the church.”
One reason people are afraid to show their scars is because they feel that their past will disqualify them for ministry. Jaynes believes that this doesn’t happen in churches as often as one may think. And if it does ever happen to anyone, she says, they should seriously reconsider their connection with that body of believers. “If we are at a place where we share that struggle and people do not rejoice with us and with God for restoring our lives, then we need to go somewhere else,” Jaynes says.
Churches should seek to create safe places, such as Sunday School or small groups, where members can tell their stories. When that happens, Jaynes says, congregations will see a lot of healing take place.
............to be continued in part (5), the last instalment.
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Show Your Scars
Author : Sharon Jaynes
Once we are healed, the way we allow God to use our scars is by sharing them with others. Too often, Jaynes says, we hide our past hurts from people around us either because we are ashamed or because we fear rejection. Carrying these burdens around – something Jaynes compares to the dust cloud that follows Pigpen around in the Peanuts comic strip -- can limit the ways in which God is able to use us.
“I lost a child a long time ago,” Jaynes says, “and when that happened I didn’t want to talk to anybody except someone who had gone through the same thing I had. I think that is how most people feel when they have gone through a struggle.”
Perhaps the increase in the number of people seeking help from secular support groups supports this idea. “People are going anywhere and everywhere to find someone who has struggled with the same thing they have struggled with,” Jaynes says, “and it’s a little heartbreaking to think that they are having to go outside the church.”
One reason people are afraid to show their scars is because they feel that their past will disqualify them for ministry. Jaynes believes that this doesn’t happen in churches as often as one may think. And if it does ever happen to anyone, she says, they should seriously reconsider their connection with that body of believers. “If we are at a place where we share that struggle and people do not rejoice with us and with God for restoring our lives, then we need to go somewhere else,” Jaynes says.
Churches should seek to create safe places, such as Sunday School or small groups, where members can tell their stories. When that happens, Jaynes says, congregations will see a lot of healing take place.
............to be continued in part (5), the last instalment.
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Thursday, 17 July 2008
your scars are beautiful to God (3)
Do you want to be healed? This sounds like a silly question to ask. Of course everyone wants to be healed, you may say. Do you? Have you been wounded by past unhappy experiences but refuse to let go of your feelings of hurt, anger, sorrow, self-pity, despair, revenge?
Some Christians choose to live with these wounds all their lives. They become miserable & deprive themselves of a full abundant life that God has promised. Do you truly want to be healed? Then read this 3rd instalment of the book review.
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Choose to be Healed
Author : Sharon Jaynes
Each of us can be healed, Jaynes says, but first we must answer a question. She recalls the story in John 5 of Jesus healing a man who had lived as an invalid for 38 years. Before He healed him, Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to get well?”
Perhaps the reason Jesus asked this, Jaynes says, is because the man’s life would drastically change once he was healed. He would have to learn to walk and get a job, among other things. Our lives, too, will change when we allow Jesus to heal our wounds.
“I think we can be so comfortable with that wound that it almost becomes who we think we are,” Jaynes says. “‘I am a rape victim.’ ‘I am a woman who has been abused.’ ‘I had an abortion, and that’s who I am.’ We can become very comfortable in that and to let go of it and be healed is scary. You take on a whole new life.”
Healing, Jaynes points out, also involves choices about forgiveness. If our wounds are from poor choices that we made, we must ask God to forgive us and accept that His death on the cross is enough to pay for our sins. Then we need to release the guilt and shame that we have felt.
Healing often involves forgiving others as well. “I think that many people believe forgiveness means that we are saying that what they did is okay,” Jaynes explains. “It’s not okay. What it is saying is that I’m not going to let that control me any longer. I’m giving it to God.”
Until a hurting person accepts God’s forgiveness, forgives themselves, and forgives the person who hurt them, Jaynes says, healing can never take place.
.......... to be continued in part (4)
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Some Christians choose to live with these wounds all their lives. They become miserable & deprive themselves of a full abundant life that God has promised. Do you truly want to be healed? Then read this 3rd instalment of the book review.
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Choose to be Healed
Author : Sharon Jaynes
Each of us can be healed, Jaynes says, but first we must answer a question. She recalls the story in John 5 of Jesus healing a man who had lived as an invalid for 38 years. Before He healed him, Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to get well?”
Perhaps the reason Jesus asked this, Jaynes says, is because the man’s life would drastically change once he was healed. He would have to learn to walk and get a job, among other things. Our lives, too, will change when we allow Jesus to heal our wounds.
“I think we can be so comfortable with that wound that it almost becomes who we think we are,” Jaynes says. “‘I am a rape victim.’ ‘I am a woman who has been abused.’ ‘I had an abortion, and that’s who I am.’ We can become very comfortable in that and to let go of it and be healed is scary. You take on a whole new life.”
Healing, Jaynes points out, also involves choices about forgiveness. If our wounds are from poor choices that we made, we must ask God to forgive us and accept that His death on the cross is enough to pay for our sins. Then we need to release the guilt and shame that we have felt.
Healing often involves forgiving others as well. “I think that many people believe forgiveness means that we are saying that what they did is okay,” Jaynes explains. “It’s not okay. What it is saying is that I’m not going to let that control me any longer. I’m giving it to God.”
Until a hurting person accepts God’s forgiveness, forgives themselves, and forgives the person who hurt them, Jaynes says, healing can never take place.
.......... to be continued in part (4)
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
your scars are beautiful to God (2)
Are you ashamed of scars that remind you of your past? A broken marriage? An attempted suicide? A wrong decision? A costly mistake? An unexpected illness? A painful loss? Do you know that God can turn your ugly wounds into beautiful scars? Do you know that God can turn your pain into purpose, your heartache into hope?
As you read this 2nd portion of the Book Review on "Your Scars Are Beautiful To God", I pray that you will find comfort in the "Father of compassion and the God of all comfort" and in turn, you will bring comfort to others (2 Cor 1:3-4).
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
When Bad Things Happen
Author : Sharon Jaynes
We will probably never understand some of the things that happen to us in life. When approached with the question of why God allows pain in our lives, Jaynes says she usually refers to something she once heard Dr. James Dobson say. “He said that for us to try to understand God’s ways is like an amoeba trying to understand how the human body works. We just can’t do it,” Jaynes says. “And that is something that we have to come to grips with.”
It is during our times of struggle that we find out what we really believe about God. A tragedy in our lives often leads us to a crisis of belief, Jaynes says. “I think that it’s very easy to believe in God when life is good,” she says. “But when life is not good, then that’s when we really decide if we believe it.”
She tells the story of Wendy, a young woman who was raped. “She was very angry at God because she had been a good girl,” Jaynes explains, “and she thought that if you were good, then bad things would not happen.” Wendy was left with a choice to make.
In the midst of her pain, Wendy had to decide between three options:
God was not powerful enough to stop what happened;
God was powerful enough, but simply didn’t care enough to stop what happened; or
God allowed it to happen and He has some greater purpose behind it.
After struggling for several years, Wendy decided God must have a purpose for what she endured, and she chose to release her pain to Him and trust Him with the outcome. It is a choice we all face when troubles hit our lives.
.........to be continued in Part (3)
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
As you read this 2nd portion of the Book Review on "Your Scars Are Beautiful To God", I pray that you will find comfort in the "Father of compassion and the God of all comfort" and in turn, you will bring comfort to others (2 Cor 1:3-4).
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
When Bad Things Happen
Author : Sharon Jaynes
We will probably never understand some of the things that happen to us in life. When approached with the question of why God allows pain in our lives, Jaynes says she usually refers to something she once heard Dr. James Dobson say. “He said that for us to try to understand God’s ways is like an amoeba trying to understand how the human body works. We just can’t do it,” Jaynes says. “And that is something that we have to come to grips with.”
It is during our times of struggle that we find out what we really believe about God. A tragedy in our lives often leads us to a crisis of belief, Jaynes says. “I think that it’s very easy to believe in God when life is good,” she says. “But when life is not good, then that’s when we really decide if we believe it.”
She tells the story of Wendy, a young woman who was raped. “She was very angry at God because she had been a good girl,” Jaynes explains, “and she thought that if you were good, then bad things would not happen.” Wendy was left with a choice to make.
In the midst of her pain, Wendy had to decide between three options:
God was not powerful enough to stop what happened;
God was powerful enough, but simply didn’t care enough to stop what happened; or
God allowed it to happen and He has some greater purpose behind it.
After struggling for several years, Wendy decided God must have a purpose for what she endured, and she chose to release her pain to Him and trust Him with the outcome. It is a choice we all face when troubles hit our lives.
.........to be continued in Part (3)
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
your scars are beautiful to God (1)
I am now reading a book, "Your Scars Are Beautiful To God" authored by Sharon Jaynes. Jaynes says, "Each scar represents a moment in time or a passage of time when something happened to us or through us that we will never forget."
Every scar has a story to tell. If you've been hurt, if you carry scars from heartbreaks, mistakes, losses, failures, illnesses or mishaps, this book is for you. This inspiring book will help you see your scars in the light of scriptures.
I will post on this blog a Book Review by CBN.com in small, digestible portions over the coming days. May God give you a word of comfort in whatever situation you are in right now.
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Your Scars are Beautiful
Author : Sharon Jaynes
“Bad things happen to good people.” We hear it all the time. We know that it is true. Yet, when the “bad thing” happens to us, we somehow often seem to be caught off guard. The deep hurts that we experience in life can plague us for years to come.
Author and speaker Sharon Jaynes knows this well. For years, she carried around wounds from her past without even realizing it. Jaynes grew up in a home filled with fighting and violence. Her father was an alcoholic, and his drunken rages left her crouching under her covers at night trying to shut out the sounds of her parents arguing.
At age 12, Jaynes met a Christian woman in her neighbourhood and began spending time with her. Although her family attended church every week, she had never seen a relationship with Jesus modeled in her home. Through her new friendship with her neighbour, she saw more than just the religious rituals her family performed on Sundays. She learned how to have a relationship with Jesus, and she accepted Christ two years later. Within five years both of her parents also came to know Christ. Her story seemed to have a fairy-tale ending.
However, the years of fighting and violence at home left her very insecure. Among her deep-rooted insecurities was the belief that she was ugly and unloved.
“Even though I became a Christian, I still had those wounds,” Jaynes explains. “And I carried them around with me well into my 30s.”
Jaynes began to feel like something was missing from her life. As she attempted to discover what it was, she sensed God telling her to let go of her past hurts. That’s when she began the process of healing – a process that she calls “turning the wounds into scars.”
“There is a big difference between a wound and a scar,” Jaynes says. “Because a scar says, ‘I’ve been healed, and this is my story.’”
In her book, "Your Scars Are Beautiful to God", Jaynes encourages readers to embrace their scars and allow God to use them in the lives of others. She says God prompted her to write the book after reading the familiar Scripture passage about the resurrection of Christ.
Jaynes says, “When Jesus appeared to His disciples, they did not recognize Him when He walked in the room until He showed them His scars. Once they saw His scars, then they knew who He was. And as I was reading that I felt like God was saying to me, ‘that is still how people know Jesus today.’ ”
Jesus could have healed His scars and come back without them. Instead, He chose to keep them. Jaynes believes that is because He had a message for us. Our scars are important, and He wants to use them.
........to be continued in Part 2.
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
Every scar has a story to tell. If you've been hurt, if you carry scars from heartbreaks, mistakes, losses, failures, illnesses or mishaps, this book is for you. This inspiring book will help you see your scars in the light of scriptures.
I will post on this blog a Book Review by CBN.com in small, digestible portions over the coming days. May God give you a word of comfort in whatever situation you are in right now.
Book Review (by Belinda Elliott of CBN.com)
Your Scars are Beautiful
Author : Sharon Jaynes
“Bad things happen to good people.” We hear it all the time. We know that it is true. Yet, when the “bad thing” happens to us, we somehow often seem to be caught off guard. The deep hurts that we experience in life can plague us for years to come.
Author and speaker Sharon Jaynes knows this well. For years, she carried around wounds from her past without even realizing it. Jaynes grew up in a home filled with fighting and violence. Her father was an alcoholic, and his drunken rages left her crouching under her covers at night trying to shut out the sounds of her parents arguing.
At age 12, Jaynes met a Christian woman in her neighbourhood and began spending time with her. Although her family attended church every week, she had never seen a relationship with Jesus modeled in her home. Through her new friendship with her neighbour, she saw more than just the religious rituals her family performed on Sundays. She learned how to have a relationship with Jesus, and she accepted Christ two years later. Within five years both of her parents also came to know Christ. Her story seemed to have a fairy-tale ending.
However, the years of fighting and violence at home left her very insecure. Among her deep-rooted insecurities was the belief that she was ugly and unloved.
“Even though I became a Christian, I still had those wounds,” Jaynes explains. “And I carried them around with me well into my 30s.”
Jaynes began to feel like something was missing from her life. As she attempted to discover what it was, she sensed God telling her to let go of her past hurts. That’s when she began the process of healing – a process that she calls “turning the wounds into scars.”
“There is a big difference between a wound and a scar,” Jaynes says. “Because a scar says, ‘I’ve been healed, and this is my story.’”
In her book, "Your Scars Are Beautiful to God", Jaynes encourages readers to embrace their scars and allow God to use them in the lives of others. She says God prompted her to write the book after reading the familiar Scripture passage about the resurrection of Christ.
Jaynes says, “When Jesus appeared to His disciples, they did not recognize Him when He walked in the room until He showed them His scars. Once they saw His scars, then they knew who He was. And as I was reading that I felt like God was saying to me, ‘that is still how people know Jesus today.’ ”
Jesus could have healed His scars and come back without them. Instead, He chose to keep them. Jaynes believes that is because He had a message for us. Our scars are important, and He wants to use them.
........to be continued in Part 2.
nothing can separate us from the love of God,
sockkim
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