Day Twenty-three: THE WOUND
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.
—ISAIAH 58:9–10
We’ve all had labels that wounded us: ugly, dumpy, skinny, fat. The wound those labels inflicted was a ragged tear in our souls that ached, and we sought to mend it and soothe the burning shame. We became yoked, chained, to these labels, and daily we dragged our heavy burdens across barren soil that produced nothing but pain in our lives.
I was told I was a monster, that I would never be pretty. The other girls laughed. Boys pointed out my bad teeth and lumpy body. I burned with shame. I wanted to disappear. So I soothed my wound in the silence of isolation.
Finally, one day in school I fled from the teasing and hid in a stairwell with a large skylight. Looking up at God, or at least at the clouds that hid my view of Him, I told Him I would accept being ugly if that was His plan for my life. “But,” I added, with all the sincerity that a child has in praying, “if it’s all the same to You, I would really rather be beautiful.”
Over the next few years, thanks to puberty and braces, my appearance began to change. But the inner wounds didn’t heal and I wasn’t yet released from my yoke. I needed friends who spoke soothing words, friends who mended what others had torn. Every kind word was a little repair, helping me return to wholeness. My friends were the real answer to my stairwell prayer.
Take every opportunity to speak kindness and encouragement to your sisters today. They are healing too.
Ask: How can I be healed? How can I heal others?
Believe: God is healing me, and I am at peace with myself.