A New Day

 By: Pastor Johnie Akers 

Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  I know a young man who had been involved in an automobile accident several years ago.  He was thrown through the windshield suffering severe injuries, including a significant amount of glass being embedded in his head.  Although multiple surgeries attempted to repair the damage and remove the glass, still there were some fragments that remained under his skin.  After his wounds had healed, from time to time he would find that some of the tiny shards of glass that had beenburied in his head would begin coming to the surface of his skin.  As long as the glass fragments remained buried under the skin, they caused no discomfort.  It was only until they started making their way through the skin to the surface that they would begin producing excruciating pain.  It was through the process of the body forcing the glass away from the skull and through the skin that eventually produced complete healing.  Looks can be deceiving.  On the surface it may appear that scars have healed when in reality, beneath the surface, the root causes of pain still exist.  It takes the gradual process of unearthing the origins of old wounds to bring closure.  This process is painful and takes time.  Often years are involved.  The debris of wounds rooted in abuse, abandonment, betrayal, or guilt over past mistakes take time to work their way to the surface.  We must be patient with God and ourselves as this process unfolds to ultimately bring about wholeness in mind, body and spirit.  We must recognize that sometimes when things are resurrected in our lives that we thought had been buried, it is God’s way of bringing closure.  Our Scripture lesson today makes it clear that God is committed to seeing His work in us completed.  Ultimately, by allowing this process of healing to reach its final conclusion, we can move forward, and distance ourselves from a painful past and walk in wholeness as a new creation in Christ Jesus with each new day.