VL - Issue 15 - February 2015

One Bound-Up Mess
by Kristi Overton Johnson
In life we suffer
many wounds. Some
are physical, like Matt’s.
Others are emotional, like
his family’s.
Wounds, if we aren’t
careful, can cause longterm
harm. One issue
Matt has encountered as
a result of his accident is the
tremendous amount of scar tissue
that has formed throughout his
body. Some of this scar tissue has been
beneficial, as it has helped new skin bond
to the old. Excessive scar tissue, however,
has caused Matt tremendous pain, restricted
his movement, and has even broken bones.
I haven’t been through Matt’s traumatic
experience, but I do know a bit about scar tissue.
Due to several routine stomach surgeries, my body
has produced long, rubber-band-like strands of scar
tissue throughout my intestines. They have adhered to
my bowels and caused much stomach pain over the
years, resulting in four bowel-obstruction surgeries.
On one occasion, my bowels were so strangulated, I
was nearly to the point of death.
Emotional wounds create scars too. These wounds
come from many places. People wound us with
their words. They inflict pain both with action and
failure to act. Circumstances and tragedy also create
emotional wounds.
Emotional wounds, unlike physical wounds, often
go unidentified or are ignored. We become experts
at pushing through our pain and putting on a facade
that says everything is okay.
I’m sure none of us have to look too deep to
discover a wound or two. We’ve all experienced
disappointment and pain—both physically and
emotionally. We’ve all been treated unjustly or been
judged, criticized, rejected, abandoned, or betrayed.
We’ve all experienced loss and broken dreams to the
point we felt our hearts were being ripped out of our
chests.
Naturally, we feel pain; our hearts are wounded.
Thoughts and emotions surface, and we desperately
search for answers. If answers don’t come, we begin
to question God and people. We cast blame; we might
head down a road of regret and guilt. Sometimes we
look for activities, substances, relationships, money,
or careers to soothe our pain. And our scars grow.
To avoid physical scars on vital organs and
bones, doctors often instruct patients to massage
the wound area to break up the scar tissue and keep
it pliable. This is often painful, but it’s necessary.
Emotionally speaking, we must allow God to
massage our hearts to prevent our emotions from
settling in and scarring over.
We can’t ignore emotional wounds. If we aren’t
careful, emotions like anger, blame, regret, fear,
bitterness, hate, guilt, and unforgiveness will form
thick, rubber-band-like scar tissue around our hearts,
causing them to calcify and grow hard. Like the scar
tissue that strangulated my bowels and blocked lifesustaining
nutrients, these emotions will block out
people who love us. Even more, they will block out a
God who more than anything wants to wrap His arms
around us, heal us, and lead us through our pain.
Uncared for, scarred-over wounds can strangulate
the very life out of us.
My friend, I don’t know the specific wound you
have experienced, but God does. And He cares. Never
doubt that. Give your wounds—every single one of
them—to Him, so He can heal your heart and set
your mind and body free.
Sometimes we don’t know how to bring our
wounds to God, or we think we shouldn’t bother
Him with them. I just experienced this myself while
at the dentist’s office. I was reclined in the chair, and
Dr. Smith was drilling away at my tooth. My jaws
began to ache. I was growing more anxious by the
minute, and I asked God to help me. The words were
barely formed when I thought about Matt. At that
very moment, he was going through an excruciating
therapy session of having his skin stretched.
“Suck it up, Kristi.” I told myself. “If Matt can go
through that, surely you can handle having your tooth
worked on!”
I felt guilty and foolish bringing God my little
concern when Matt was dealing with such a big one.
But the Lord lovingly reminded me of 1 Peter 5:7.
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares
about you.” It was like God was saying: “Kristi, I care
just as much about your tooth as I do about Matt’s
physical injuries. Bring it to Me. Bring all your cares
to Me.”
Let’s take a closer look at this powerful verse.
A care is anything that causes concern, anxiety,
frustration, difficulty, misfortune, or pain. We should
give anything that causes us to worry to God,
regardless of what or why it happened. Many Bible
translations say we are to “cast” these cares to God.
To cast means to throw an excess weight aside. We
are literally to throw our concerns over to God. Why?
First, because He cares for us. God is truly interested
in every detail of our lives. If it concerns us, it concerns
Him. Secondly, we aren’t designed to carry cares.
Cares bind us up, load us down, and eventually wear
us out.
Friend, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been electrocuted
or insulted—God cares. It doesn’t matter if you’re a
murderer or a helper of the poor and needy—God
loves you just the same.
One of the reasons I believe the Lord directed
me to focus this issue of Victorious Living on Matt
and his family is to show you that regardless of who
you are—mother, father, sibling, child, friend—and
what you are going through—guilt, physical pain,
fear, anger, frustration, loneliness, confusion—the
answer to finding healing for your wounds is the
same. It’s Jesus.
Cast your cares—the big and the small—on God.
You can trust Him with your life. He may be the last
person you want to speak to right now, but He is the
only One who knows the depth of your pain; the only
One who can help you overcome.
Talk to Him; get real with Him. For goodness
sakes—if you have to, yell it out to Him! Just tell
God how you feel. Talk to Him as you would a friend.
The truth is, He is your friend (John 15:15). God isn’t
looking for impressive, refined words. His only desire is
to fellowship with our hearts. Lay aside any notion of
your words having to be perfect and just talk to Him.
I know the phrase “cast your cares on Jesus” can
sound clichéd or naively religious, but after decades of
experiencing my own emotional wounds and, at times,
my own hard heart, I know how freeing casting my
cares on God can be. If it weren’t for the healing touch
of my heavenly Father, I’d be one bound-up mess!
Allowing God access to your heart and casting
your cares on Him is your key to victory. With the
Lord’s help, you can emerge from every wound
stronger, wiser, and better than ever. You can be made
completely whole and find joy and freedom, even in
the most difficult of places. V
Kristi Overton Johnson, former
world champion water-skier, is the
founder of In His Wakes Ministry, KOJ
Ministries, and publisher of Victorious
Living magazine. She resides in Florida
with her husband, Tim, and their
three children.
12 www.kojministries.org