Tuesday, November 09, 2004

scars

Some years ago, on a hot summer day insouth Florida, a little boy decided to gofor a swim in the old swimming hole thatwas behind his house.In a hurry to dive into the cool water, heran out the back door, leaving behind shoes,socks, and shirt as he went.He flew into the water, not realizing that as heswam toward the middle of the lake, an alligatorwas swimming toward the shore.In the house, his mother was looking out thewindow. She saw the two as they got closerand closer together. In utter fear, she ran towardthewater, yelling to her son as loudly as she could.Hearing her voice, the little boy becamealarmed, and made a U-turn to swim to his mother.It was too late. Just as hereached her, the alligator reached him.From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boyby the arms, just as the alligator snatched his legs.That began a very incredible tug-of-war betweenthe two.The alligator was much stronger than the mother,but the mother was much too passionate to let go.A farmer happened to drive by, heard herscreams,raced from his truck, took aim, and shot thealligator.Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in thehospital,the little boy survived. His legs were extremelyscarredby the vicious attack of the animal. On his arms,therewere deep scratches where his mother'sfingernailsdug into his flesh, in her effort to hang on to theson she loved.The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boyafter the trauma, asked the boy if he would showhim hisscars. The boy lifted his pantlegs. Then, withobvious pride,he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. Ihave greatscars on my arms, too. I have thembecause my Mom wouldn't let go."You and I can identify with that little boy. Wehave scars, too. No, not from an alligator, but thescars of a painful past.Some of those scars are unsightly, and havecausedus deep regret. But, some wounds,my friend, are because God has refused to letgo. In the midst of your struggle, He's been rightthere, holding on to you.The Scripture teaches that God loves you. Youare a child of God. He wants to protect you, andprovide for you in every way.But, sometimes, we foolishly wade into dangeroussituations, not knowing what lies ahead. Theswimming hole of life is filled with peril ~ and weforget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That iswhen the tug-of-war begins.If you have the scars of His love on yourarms, be very, very grateful. He will not ever let yougo.Please pass this on to those you love. God hasblessed you, so that you can be a blessingtoothers. You just never know where a person is inhis/her life, and what they are going through.Never judge another persons scars, because youdon't know how they got them. Also, it is soimportant that we are not too selfish to receive theblessings of these messages without forwardingthem to someone else.Right now, someone needs to know that Godloves them, and you love themtoo ~ enough to not let them go!!!

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