“Someday, you’ll wear this experience like a badge.” My sister spoke of my fight with cancer.
Recoiling from the idea of ever broadcasting my experience, I quietly appropriated her well-intentioned words to another place in my mind: a place with no memory of surgical scars or treatment schedules or even a pink badge of survivorship. Simply put, I hoped for a day when it was as though the diagnosis never happened. So when my doctor said he thought I’d be just the person to speak with a few of his struggling patients, I balked. Me, Lord?
But then my thankfulness to have the choice to answer yes or no as a cancer-free woman yielded a shaky “yes.” Friendships forged over time with women who needed to talk with someone who had been in their shoes slowly gave me confidence in a badge of empathy I’d once shunned. Numerous years and testimonies later, my deceased sister’s words hold not only purpose for me but also an abiding humility that God chose me to provide an “I’ve been there” to his children in despair.
When the disciple Thomas refused to affirm the Resurrection, Jesus—understanding that scars of victory can increase faith and hope—didn’t hesitate to show the proof of His completed mission, a critical turning point in Thomas’s faith walk.
Blessedly, God sometimes uses us to display His ability to change painful wounds into demonstrations of deliverance. And even when we feel reluctant, He empowers us through His Son, who readily shared His badge of sacrifice to encourage others.
I’m so thankful, Lord, that a testimony of Your power brings peace to the soul.
—Jacqueline F. Wheelock
