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The Thin Place

The Scars We Choose

We all are scarred. When I was a child, I thought we could manage our lives or bandage them in a way that it could be avoided but now I know. The world is simply too broken to live unmarked.

I now bear the weight of opened eyes. My heart aches with images of these atrocities in my own neighborhood. Can our souls cry? I swear sometimes I can feel my heart breaking.

Even with the horrors here, I thought they were still “them” problems. I didn’t realize they were us problems. The cut of sin runs deeply in the world and sometimes the stitches knitting it back together again hurt too.

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I have chosen to use ink to forever mark my body three different times.

The first time was for a friend. Her body bore the brunt of being born into a world still reeling from the effects of sin and, despite the hopes and wishes and plans of all who loved her, was on the operating table, undergoing heart surgery after only a few days of breathing in life.

The second looks most like a scar. I was fascinated with the idea of a white tattoo, something not dramatic but something that subtly showed the change of the ring on my finger on the side of my body.

The third was my most spontaneous. It is a story of grace and love and God’s providence. I didn’t know this would scar me as well.

These are the scars I chose, there are others I didn’t chose. The lines under my eyes from chronic pain. The lines on my stomach from unsuccessful surgeries. The ache my heart will always carry as a result of depression and infertility. Despite these horrors, I can’t help but think that there is power in the naming these scars.

I have a few more scars I have chosen to have etched on my body the way my heart is etched. The first is a for a joyous event (but don’t these events still always change us forever), my brother’s marriage. His new wife and I decided to get a tattoo to reflect our sisterhood. The second, is to recognize the infertility that has changed me and will forever impact my heart and body.

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My husband was disappointed when I said I wanted to get a lotus flower rising out of symbol for infertility. He thought the naming and own of it was too much, that it would hurt me and that there was power in labeling myself that way. I do see power in the labeling, but in a very different way.

There is power in looking your fear in the face and saying, “You don’t own me, I own you! See, I am taking control of this and you will forever be mine but I am no longer yours.” Forgoing victimhood to claim beauty rising out of this sadness seems like the great step indeed towards healing.

In dealing with my scars I have learned the greatest victory comes from remembering that another was scarred for me. His hands and side still bear the marks of my sin. It was beautiful, terrible thing. This things has forever changed the meaning of scars.

. . . Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:14-18, ESV

These scars have been redeemed. They are being used to prepare us for something more beautiful then we can imagine. I’m okay carrying that etched into my side.

 

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Hello, I’m Bailey
about me

Hello, I’m Bailey

The Thin Place was born out of a season of struggle. A season where I felt stretched thin and desperately longed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living. The goodness of God showed up in unexpected ways. During that season, the spiritual disciplines laid out in Scripture, the traditions of the Church, and the reminders of His faithfulness seen in liturgial living and the feasts and seasons of the Church calendar all opened my eyes to the hope we have in Christ.

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Until I read the entire Bible last year for the Bible in Lent challenge, I had never read most of the Deuterocanonical / Apocryphal books of the Bible. When I did this, I realized that, aside from a vague notion of Maccabees from Hanukkah books, I had absolutely no idea what the rest of the books contained.
For the next few days, we're going to do a little overview of each of these books in the Bible.
But first, why aren't these books in the Protestant Bible?
Like most of the divides in the Catholic and Protestant conversation, there is a lot of nuances. Luther’s own translation of the Bible included these books although he moved them to a separate section. They were also included in the King James Bible of 1611 and the Geneva Bible even though they were viewed as apocryphal or “outside of Scripture.” It was not standard even in Protestantism to exclude these books from the Bible printing until 1825. 
Essentially, there is a lot of historical evidence that the church throughout history considered these books a part of the Bible. But earlier in the Church, we see evidence of Church leaders such as St. Polycarp, St. Clement of Rome, Origen, St. Athanasius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine,  affirming some or all of these books as Scripture.
It's clear that historically, believers have seen these books as beneficial so I hope you'll join me in looking at them this week!
#godsword #jesusislife #dailydevotion #shedelights #graceupongrace #godisfaithful #lordjesus #blessedisshe #biblestudy #trustinhim #catholicism #bible #jesuslove #christianposts #readyourbible #bibledaily #intheword #wordbeforeworld #bibleversedaily #gracemakers #christianwomenleaders #bibletruth #jesusisthereasonfortheseason #godlovesyou #prayerchangesthings #dailybibleverse #seekhim
thethinplace
thethinplace
•
Follow
Until I read the entire Bible last year for the Bible in Lent challenge, I had never read most of the Deuterocanonical / Apocryphal books of the Bible. When I did this, I realized that, aside from a vague notion of Maccabees from Hanukkah books, I had absolutely no idea what the rest of the books contained. For the next few days, we're going to do a little overview of each of these books in the Bible. But first, why aren't these books in the Protestant Bible? Like most of the divides in the Catholic and Protestant conversation, there is a lot of nuances. Luther’s own translation of the Bible included these books although he moved them to a separate section. They were also included in the King James Bible of 1611 and the Geneva Bible even though they were viewed as apocryphal or “outside of Scripture.” It was not standard even in Protestantism to exclude these books from the Bible printing until 1825. Essentially, there is a lot of historical evidence that the church throughout history considered these books a part of the Bible. But earlier in the Church, we see evidence of Church leaders such as St. Polycarp, St. Clement of Rome, Origen, St. Athanasius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine, affirming some or all of these books as Scripture. It's clear that historically, believers have seen these books as beneficial so I hope you'll join me in looking at them this week! #godsword #jesusislife #dailydevotion #shedelights #graceupongrace #godisfaithful #lordjesus #blessedisshe #biblestudy #trustinhim #catholicism #bible #jesuslove #christianposts #readyourbible #bibledaily #intheword #wordbeforeworld #bibleversedaily #gracemakers #christianwomenleaders #bibletruth #jesusisthereasonfortheseason #godlovesyou #prayerchangesthings #dailybibleverse #seekhim
2 days ago
View on Instagram |
1/5
I used to think that one day, the glory of the Lord, our relationship with Him in Heaven, would be so great that we wouldn’t care about the wretched pain that sin brought into our earthly lives. But that answer never quite satisfied. 
I realize now that God is not in the business of sweeping things under the rug. There isn’t going to be some cosmic brainwashing where we all wake up one day pretending the pain was never there. Redemption, transformation, and revival is what our God is about.
Christ’s dead body lying in the grave and being raised to life, still bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, that is our hope. Not that the bad things will be ignored, but that even the most egregious acts we can commit, crucifying our God, can be turned into the means of our redemption. All that was meant for evil will be purposed to the good of the Lord, not ignored by Him.
There is not going to be a cosmic gaslighting, the wounds that Thomas felt testify to this. There will be a cosmic resurrection where things that felt too awful to even think about will be redeemed and transformed by the glorious love and majesty of our Lord.
And one day we will look and say, He has done great things. And will know in our bones that it is truly true.
#godsword #jesusislife #dailydevotion #shedelights #graceupongrace #godisfaithful #lordjesus #blessedisshe #biblestudy #trustinhim #catholicism #bible #jesuslove #christianposts #readyourbible #bibledaily #intheword #wordbeforeworld #bibleversedaily #gracemakers #christianwomenleaders #bibletruth #jesusisthereasonfortheseason #godlovesyou #prayerchangesthings #dailybibleverse #seekhim
I used to think that one day, the glory of the Lord, our relationship with Him in Heaven, would be so great that we wouldn’t care about the wretched pain that sin brought into our earthly lives. But that answer never quite satisfied. 
I realize now that God is not in the business of sweeping things under the rug. There isn’t going to be some cosmic brainwashing where we all wake up one day pretending the pain was never there. Redemption, transformation, and revival is what our God is about.
Christ’s dead body lying in the grave and being raised to life, still bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, that is our hope. Not that the bad things will be ignored, but that even the most egregious acts we can commit, crucifying our God, can be turned into the means of our redemption. All that was meant for evil will be purposed to the good of the Lord, not ignored by Him.
There is not going to be a cosmic gaslighting, the wounds that Thomas felt testify to this. There will be a cosmic resurrection where things that felt too awful to even think about will be redeemed and transformed by the glorious love and majesty of our Lord.
And one day we will look and say, He has done great things. And will know in our bones that it is truly true.
#godsword #jesusislife #dailydevotion #shedelights #graceupongrace #godisfaithful #lordjesus #blessedisshe #biblestudy #trustinhim #catholicism #bible #jesuslove #christianposts #readyourbible #bibledaily #intheword #wordbeforeworld #bibleversedaily #gracemakers #christianwomenleaders #bibletruth #jesusisthereasonfortheseason #godlovesyou #prayerchangesthings #dailybibleverse #seekhim
I used to think that one day, the glory of the Lord, our relationship with Him in Heaven, would be so great that we wouldn’t care about the wretched pain that sin brought into our earthly lives. But that answer never quite satisfied. 
I realize now that God is not in the business of sweeping things under the rug. There isn’t going to be some cosmic brainwashing where we all wake up one day pretending the pain was never there. Redemption, transformation, and revival is what our God is about.
Christ’s dead body lying in the grave and being raised to life, still bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, that is our hope. Not that the bad things will be ignored, but that even the most egregious acts we can commit, crucifying our God, can be turned into the means of our redemption. All that was meant for evil will be purposed to the good of the Lord, not ignored by Him.
There is not going to be a cosmic gaslighting, the wounds that Thomas felt testify to this. There will be a cosmic resurrection where things that felt too awful to even think about will be redeemed and transformed by the glorious love and majesty of our Lord.
And one day we will look and say, He has done great things. And will know in our bones that it is truly true.
#godsword #jesusislife #dailydevotion #shedelights #graceupongrace #godisfaithful #lordjesus #blessedisshe #biblestudy #trustinhim #catholicism #bible #jesuslove #christianposts #readyourbible #bibledaily #intheword #wordbeforeworld #bibleversedaily #gracemakers #christianwomenleaders #bibletruth #jesusisthereasonfortheseason #godlovesyou #prayerchangesthings #dailybibleverse #seekhim
thethinplace
thethinplace
•
Follow
I used to think that one day, the glory of the Lord, our relationship with Him in Heaven, would be so great that we wouldn’t care about the wretched pain that sin brought into our earthly lives. But that answer never quite satisfied. I realize now that God is not in the business of sweeping things under the rug. There isn’t going to be some cosmic brainwashing where we all wake up one day pretending the pain was never there. Redemption, transformation, and revival is what our God is about. Christ’s dead body lying in the grave and being raised to life, still bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, that is our hope. Not that the bad things will be ignored, but that even the most egregious acts we can commit, crucifying our God, can be turned into the means of our redemption. All that was meant for evil will be purposed to the good of the Lord, not ignored by Him. There is not going to be a cosmic gaslighting, the wounds that Thomas felt testify to this. There will be a cosmic resurrection where things that felt too awful to even think about will be redeemed and transformed by the glorious love and majesty of our Lord. And one day we will look and say, He has done great things. And will know in our bones that it is truly true. #godsword #jesusislife #dailydevotion #shedelights #graceupongrace #godisfaithful #lordjesus #blessedisshe #biblestudy #trustinhim #catholicism #bible #jesuslove #christianposts #readyourbible #bibledaily #intheword #wordbeforeworld #bibleversedaily #gracemakers #christianwomenleaders #bibletruth #jesusisthereasonfortheseason #godlovesyou #prayerchangesthings #dailybibleverse #seekhim
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
2/5
I've been thinking a lot these last few months about the Prodigal Son, the in-between parts of the story that don't make the highlight reel.
Did he slip out wordlessly or was there fanfare as his leaving? Did his father cry or was he numb to the pain? 
We know the ending, we know the joyous celebration upon the son’s return, but how many moments in the in-between are we missing. The celebrations with one less seat at the table. Nights spend wondering if and where and how he was surviving.
There’s so much to unpack that we just tie up neatly with the “and he came home and all was well” bow at the end of the story. The end of the story is what endures, but the rest of the story is not insignificant. Without it, the end it confusing at best and meaningless at worst.
I used to think that one day, the glory of the Lord, our relationship with Him in Heaven, would be so great that we wouldn’t care about the wretched pain that sin brought into our earthly lives. 
But that answer never quite satisfied. 
I realize now that God is not in the business of sweeping things under the rug. There isn’t going to be some cosmic brainwashing where we all wake up one day pretending the pain was never there. Redemption, transformation, and revival is what our God is about.
Christ’s dead body lying in the grave and being raised to life, still bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, that is our hope. Not that the bad things will be ignored, but that even the most egregious acts we can commit, crucifying our God, can be turned into the means of our redemption. All that was meant for evil will be purposed to the good of the Lord, not ignored by Him.
There is not going to be a cosmic gaslighting, the wounds that Thomas felt testify to this. There will be a cosmic resurrection where things that felt too awful to even think about will be redeemed and transformed by the glorious love and majesty of our Lord.
And one day we will look and say, He has done great things. And will know in our bones that it is truly true.
#christianwoman  #jesusgirl #inspiredfaith #Catholicconvert #chasingsacred #bibleverse #biblestudy  #christianblogger #faithinhim #proverbs31woman #prodigalson
thethinplace
thethinplace
•
Follow
I've been thinking a lot these last few months about the Prodigal Son, the in-between parts of the story that don't make the highlight reel. Did he slip out wordlessly or was there fanfare as his leaving? Did his father cry or was he numb to the pain? We know the ending, we know the joyous celebration upon the son’s return, but how many moments in the in-between are we missing. The celebrations with one less seat at the table. Nights spend wondering if and where and how he was surviving. There’s so much to unpack that we just tie up neatly with the “and he came home and all was well” bow at the end of the story. The end of the story is what endures, but the rest of the story is not insignificant. Without it, the end it confusing at best and meaningless at worst. I used to think that one day, the glory of the Lord, our relationship with Him in Heaven, would be so great that we wouldn’t care about the wretched pain that sin brought into our earthly lives. But that answer never quite satisfied. I realize now that God is not in the business of sweeping things under the rug. There isn’t going to be some cosmic brainwashing where we all wake up one day pretending the pain was never there. Redemption, transformation, and revival is what our God is about. Christ’s dead body lying in the grave and being raised to life, still bearing the wounds of His crucifixion, that is our hope. Not that the bad things will be ignored, but that even the most egregious acts we can commit, crucifying our God, can be turned into the means of our redemption. All that was meant for evil will be purposed to the good of the Lord, not ignored by Him. There is not going to be a cosmic gaslighting, the wounds that Thomas felt testify to this. There will be a cosmic resurrection where things that felt too awful to even think about will be redeemed and transformed by the glorious love and majesty of our Lord. And one day we will look and say, He has done great things. And will know in our bones that it is truly true. #christianwoman #jesusgirl #inspiredfaith #Catholicconvert #chasingsacred #bibleverse #biblestudy #christianblogger #faithinhim #proverbs31woman #prodigalson
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
3/5
This is a gut-check. A major gut-check. 
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." - James 1:27
Is that how I live my faith?
No. I can say without any hesitation, that I am not known for widow or orphan care. Even when I advocate for the vulnerable and marginalized, it is in a vague, general way. 
Not in a specific way. For specific people. Like the God who loves specifically me and not just a vague idea of a person. 
Lord, have mercy. Convict us and move us to action. Make us more like You.
#christianwoman #graceupongrace #jesusgirl #inspiredfaith #womenlivingwell #jesuscalling #faithfilledcaptions #catholicblogger #Catholicconvert #CatholicWoman #chasingsacred #christianwomenleaders #bibleverse #biblestudy  #christianblogger #faithinhim #proverbs31woman #faithful #Godisgood #encouragementgallery #godslove #christianposts #christianquote #prayer #prayertime #miblogger #michiganblogger
thethinplace
thethinplace
•
Follow
This is a gut-check. A major gut-check. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." - James 1:27 Is that how I live my faith? No. I can say without any hesitation, that I am not known for widow or orphan care. Even when I advocate for the vulnerable and marginalized, it is in a vague, general way. Not in a specific way. For specific people. Like the God who loves specifically me and not just a vague idea of a person. Lord, have mercy. Convict us and move us to action. Make us more like You. #christianwoman #graceupongrace #jesusgirl #inspiredfaith #womenlivingwell #jesuscalling #faithfilledcaptions #catholicblogger #Catholicconvert #CatholicWoman #chasingsacred #christianwomenleaders #bibleverse #biblestudy #christianblogger #faithinhim #proverbs31woman #faithful #Godisgood #encouragementgallery #godslove #christianposts #christianquote #prayer #prayertime #miblogger #michiganblogger
4 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
4/5
Too much of my life has been focused on God’s judgment, on trying to learn, trying to understand, trying to justify myself through knowledge and proper theology. Divine Mercy Sunday points me back to the lavish mercy of God. Mercy that is greater than my wildest dreams. Mercy beyond what my human mind can imagine. Mercy that is truly Divine.⁣
⁣
Read more on the mercy of God. Latest post on the blog. Link in Bio⁣
⁣
#christianblogger #givemejesus #christianliving #christianblog #graceupongrace #christianwomen #bedeeplyrooted #shereadstruth #lampandlight #womenintheword #proverbs31 #goodnewsfeed #soulscripts #christiancreative #womenoffaith #solovelysofree #lifelivedbeautifully #solovelysofree #belovedlife #jesussaves #soworthloving
thethinplace
thethinplace
•
Follow
Too much of my life has been focused on God’s judgment, on trying to learn, trying to understand, trying to justify myself through knowledge and proper theology. Divine Mercy Sunday points me back to the lavish mercy of God. Mercy that is greater than my wildest dreams. Mercy beyond what my human mind can imagine. Mercy that is truly Divine.⁣ ⁣ Read more on the mercy of God. Latest post on the blog. Link in Bio⁣ ⁣ #christianblogger #givemejesus #christianliving #christianblog #graceupongrace #christianwomen #bedeeplyrooted #shereadstruth #lampandlight #womenintheword #proverbs31 #goodnewsfeed #soulscripts #christiancreative #womenoffaith #solovelysofree #lifelivedbeautifully #solovelysofree #belovedlife #jesussaves #soworthloving
4 weeks ago
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5/5
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