Reb Rev's Blog

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

I remember completing the booking sheet (arrest report) as a police officer. There was a block entitled “Scars, Marks and Tattoos.” There was always the possibility of some interesting stuff to fill in that block. But, the purpose of the block was to help identify the person.

These things were unique to each individual. There are a lot of 5’6”, 125 pound, red headed females with green eyes. But, only one with a 3 inch scar on her left arm just below the elbow and a (full color) peacock tattooed on her right thigh (from hip to knee) and a butterfly on her left um “chest area”.

Once while working undercover, an informant went missing for a few days. Then, a body wrapped in chains was found in a local river. Both my informant and “the body” had multiple tattoos and I was called to see if they were, in fact, the same person. Fortunately, for the informant, the tattoos on “the body” (I still don’t know who that was) were not the same and the informant turned up  – alive -  a few days later. 

The “scars, marks and tattoos” combination along with our other identifying information make each of us unique. Some may not like them, some may try to hide them, but they are a part of us and are a record of times and events of our past. Some remind of us painful times, others of happy ones. They are part of us.

Think for a moment about all of your experiences – the things which make you you – your “scars, marks and tattoos” of life. Then realize God can use you and all of these things to reach people and minister to folks in so many other ways – all for His glory.

You have experiences others do not have which will connect with folks, reach them in their place of hurting or need, others just do not have.

But, in order to do this you have to surrender completely – yes even your “scars marks and tattoos” to God. In turn, you get a “future filled with hope” as Jeremiah tells us in the verse above.

My prayer for you this week is that you will realize your uniqueness and, because of it, your ability to be a blessing to others. And, that God will use you in mighty ways to be a source of blessing to many – for His glory.

This entry was posted on June 17, 2010 at 11:48 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.