Power of Bruises

Key Scripture:  “In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.”  Isaiah 30:26

Power Point:

When I was young, I had a beautiful horse named Jinx. I loved to ride her but we lived on a farm and in order to catch her to be able to take my ride, I had to ply her with sugar cubes, carrots and apples and then sometimes she still wouldn’t come. One day, a friend and I were riding her bareback when an empty hay wagon came up our lane. It terrified Jinx and off she went. My friend Elaine was holding on to me for dear life but she began to fall off and pulled me with her. Flashes of the long hours it took me to catch Jinx in the first place flashed through my mind as I held tightly to the reins and she circled around me as I lay on the gravel. Because the wagon kept coming, she got even more upset and stepped on my back at which point I wisely decided to let her go. 

I had a hoof print on my back for a little while, but as you can see the memory still remains.

Sometimes we have things in our lives that leave “hoof prints”.  They leave their mark. If you are wise, you will allow them to heal and fade away. If you are not wise, you will keep pressing the sore area, reminding yourself of what has happened. The thing about that hoof print is that because it was on my back I couldn’t see it but everyone else could. The thing about the painful things we allow to stay in our lives is that often we can’t see them but everyone else can.

Bitterness and anger and resentment are ugly evidences of the marks in our lives, which we refuse to deal with, and allow to heal. It’s like adding yeast to flour and water and watching it “rise” up. When you refuse to release the past it always “rises up” in your future.

Holy Spirit is especially good at helping you heal from the wounds of your past.  He actually knows just what to do to set your free from that bruised heart. Why don’t you give Him a chance to do just that today? It would be a great way to begin your New Year, don’t you think?

Power Thought:

Unhealed wounds only become infected and fester, affecting everything around them.