"Barf"

2 Corinthians 5:17
New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.


When I was in middle school, I was bullied verbally by a group of girls. The bullying continued into High School for a while as well. I was an awkward tween and teen that was plagued with bad acne and frizzy hair. I felt socially unacceptable due to my lack of social skills and my appearance. I remember walking or riding my bike to middle school , only to find that by the time I got there and looked in the bathroom mirror, I looked like a different person. The long tedious repertoire of primping in front of the mirror at home prior to going to school, which included blow drying my hair to straighten it and covering my acne by using products such as tinted Clearasil and thick foundation make-up, added up to nothing but frizzy hair and a bright orange line by my jaw and hairline by the time I arrived at school. The Florida humidity completely destroyed all the work I had done to my hair. I would have probably been better off if I had just rolled out of bed and went to school without doing a thing to "fix myself up". To make matters worse, there were a group of girls who called me "barf" every time they walked by me in the hallway. They not only called me "barf", they would make "heaving" noises and act as if they were throwing up. When I read the above verse this morning, it reminded me how back in 1996, when I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, something very special happened inside of me that was above and beyond my salvation experience. I realized that I had become a new creation in Christ! I could finally be rid of that "ugly cocoon" that had been formed in my early years and continued to grow and fester into adulthood as I continued to believe what these girls had said about me over the years. I had finally come to realize that I was beautiful to God, both inside and out, because of what Jesus did for me. God sees me robed in Christ's righteousness. You may not have been called names while you were growing up, but one thing that we all have in common, is that we were all born into sin. There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) . There is a remedy for this dilemma though. His name is Jesus. When we surrender our life to Him and turn away from our sin, He begins a good work in us that doesn't end until He has completed it.

Philippians 1:6
New King James Version (NKJV)
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

I am grateful to God for saving me, loving me and changing me. The cruel words were heartbreaking to me at the time, but I understand that kids are kids and that they say mean things sometimes. That certainly hasn't changed from "back in the day" when I was bullied. I have forgiven the girls that did this to me. We have all done and said things that we are now ashamed of, but Jesus' forgiveness is complete. There is nothing as freeing as being forgiven by God and in turn forgiving others. He is the Only One who can heal our broken hearts....

Psalm 147:3
New King James Version (NKJV)
3 He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.

“Leave the broken, irreversible past in God’s hands, and step out into the invincible future with Him.” ~ Oswald Chambers