What do Candy Lightner, Donna Whitson, Bill Wilson, and Robbie Parker all have in common?
- Candy Lightner – lost daughter in a drunk driving accident - founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving
- Donna Whitson – daughter kidnapped and murdered - co-founder of the Amber Alert
- Bill Wilson – suffered with alcoholism - co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
- Robbie Parker – lost a daughter in Newtown shooting - a light to others during the tragic loss of his child
All of these people experienced extreme pain and sadness. All of these people turned their sorrow into love in action.
Every single one of our lives is full of hurts of one kind or another. There is no one exempt from brokenness. So situations come into our lives. We experience pain. We have scars from that pain. What do we do with those scars? Do we just cover them up? Do we become bitter and angry? What we do with the pain we’ve experienced is pivotal.
Baron Batch, Pittsburgh Steelers running back puts it this way.
“God gives us scars sometimes to remind us where we’ve been and more importantly how he’s healed us. Once we have those scars we can show people and say, look, this is what God’s done for me. “
Pastor Nate’s message last week taught how we should Love All. He defined love as a big deal, in action, with a specific target. We can easily become overwhelmed by pain, either our own or by the world’s. We can’t fight the fight for every single battle that exists. God created us with limits. But as Mother Theresa put it, “If I look at the masses, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.”
Look around you. Look at the one. Who is hurting? Who is hurting like you’ve hurt? How could God be calling you to Love All through your scars?
Blog entry by: Sherry L. Rhone-Engel