Wounds are Windows for the Glory of God
By: Susan Deborah Schiller
Our wounds are windows that show God’s artwork shining through the mosaic of our soul. I believe it’s silence and solitude that cause our inner flame to glow.
Silence and solitude are our companions on the journey within, which I call “On the Way Home”. Silence is the incubator of the Living Word. Mother Theresa wrote: “We need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness.”
“God is a friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence. See the stars, the moon, the sun, how they move in silence… The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls… The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us.” — Brennan Manning, in Souvenirs of Solitude
In the silence, I hear Abba’s still, small voice, like an anchor to my soul. His song changes the rhythm of my heartbeat. I begin to vibrate at a higher frequency, as I tune in to Heaven’s conversation.
It gives me the courage to open my wounds, like windows, for the glory of God to shine from within. The Kingdom of Heaven is within us, as Abba makes His home in us. To find ourselves Home is to discover that core of God in our own heart… and most of the time, the portals to Heaven are through our wounds.
Each day, I pray for greater faith—that God will use every wound as a window for His grace to show forth and that one day all transgressions, forgiven and redeemed, will bring greater light to the darkness. You never know: all those points of light, shining together, might just be bright enough to lead another person home. – Ginger Garrett
Is there a wound that might become a window, if you were to know that God was there with you, right at that moment? How would it change your perception of what happened?
These kinds of memories we tend to bury, or at best, we “forgive and forget”. But what if we were to bring them right into the Throne Room of God, to be transformed from a curse into a blessing?
I wrote “Storm Tossed” during a time of silence and solitude, on one of the worst days of my life. It was a time when I should have been protected, but instead I was betrayed by someone who was like a father to me.
What if your wounds really were to become windows for the glory of God to shine through? What would that look like to you? Would you see what happened to you in a different light?
Writing Prompt: Spend 5-20 minutes in silence and solitude. Twenty minutes is the ideal for a “minimum” but if you’re not used to silence, it can be deafening, so five minutes is a good place to begin, and then build from there.
Try not to struggle when your mind gets busy; just keep returning to peace. If you like reading the Bible, you might read a few verses, and then just keep them in your mind as you rest. If you like to paint, draw, doodle, or walk, you might enjoy having a quiet activity. If you fall asleep, it’s probably because you need it. A power nap is wonderful, too!
If “nothing” seems to come of this, it’s perfectly normal. Sometimes our bodies and minds just need to rest. There is always something deep and powerful happening, even when we can’t consciously observe it.
Other times, a vision, a few words, a memory may arise from within. It may take a few tries, or many. It’s a discipline, this resting and retreating. It’s part of learning to trust, to lean on His understanding and not our own. 🙂
We advance by retreating, God once said to me, for that’s when He does His best work. This is the time when we are re-framing our past and rewriting our future, creating beauty out of chaos. We are writing ourselves into a better world, as my friend Esther Emery once stated. We are creating a new world, in this atmosphere of love, joy, and peace.
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With all my love,
Sue
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Indeed.
"…Our hearts are like stained-glass windows. Those windows are made of broken glass which has been forged back together, and those windows are even stronger and more beautiful for having been broken. – Cori Salchert
I love your website, Sue. I come here often for hope and refreshing and to encourage myself that I am not alone and not unique in the pursuit of wholeness. I love when the Father heals an old wound because when He does it, IT IS FINISHED! There is no return to pain, the sting is gone and the memory has lost its power to hurt.
Joining you in rewriting my future …. with love, Joyce
If we all could only see how beautiful we are, this magnificent glory of God shining through us, especially through our wounds. At Easter, especially, we remember the wounds of our Savior, Christ Jesus, and how beautiful and glorious those wounds are… and how willing He was to lay his life down for us. He saw the glory ahead and it gave him enough joy and strength to love the whole world, even his enemies… we are so blessed!
I am blessed to be on this journey with you, Joyce – you are a glorious treasure!
What an amazing way to describe a wound Susan. 'A window for the glory of God' – Isn't that what God's healing is all about? That's exactly why you are such a bright light in so many other women's dark place. With God's help you have turned your pain into power and can help those who are still feeling battered and bruised. You take a glimmer of hope and turn it into a firework display!
Carolyn, your presence here gives me such joy – your whole story is a firework display of God's glory! You positively glow with Hope and Joy!
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