Dan, my husband, wears one of his favorite t-shirts often that says on the back, “scars are tattoos with better stories.” He loves this shirt, because he has some large scars on his left leg from a boating accident that happened almost 9 years ago. These scars tell a story, remind him of some events that majorly changed his life, and he often says that he is thankful for them and the accident.

The scars are from a boat propeller that literally cut his leg in 5 places, one scar from each prop. We have this propeller on our coffee table as a reminder of the graciousness of the Lord for sparing D and his leg, but also as a sign of all the good that came out of that accident.

There’s so much more to the story, but the point is that now I bear a scar. A large scar on my lower abdomen that is a daily reminder of my baby girl. A scar that I wear proudly, and I will never regret.

D and I talk often about what these visual signs on our bodies mean.

Our Mary Anna early on showed signs of what we thought was going to be a severe clubbed foot. We met with a few doctors to prepare for what this would mean, and we anticipated some surgeries, bracing, and possibly some visible scars on our sweet girl.

There were times that these possible scars caused us to cry and fear, but then again, we knew what was to come, so we anticipated them being a sign of how far she would come. We planned to use them to teach her about life and perseverance and how to overcome obstacles that even her daddy and I could not relate to.

I remember right after she was born, before I had even seen my scar, my dad prepping me on what the visual of her little leg/foot looked like, because he did not want it to upset me. He was tender and gracious, and I did not care. I loved her so much.

So often people will say things to us like, “she is healed now” or “she has no scars” or “she is perfect”, and I have thought so much that I wonder if Mary Anna does bear scars of her battles her on earth. As much as we picture heaven as completion and perfection, why do these scars that we receive on earth have to leave us?

I wonder if our scars would be evident in heaven.

Battle scars as a sign of victory.