When does a scar heal?

"Scars are areas of fibrous tissue that replace normal skin (or other tissue) after injury.
A scar results from the biologic process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process.
With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound (e.g. after accident, disease, or surgery) results in some degree of scarring.”

I have found that life can be great one minute and very trying the next. I am ever so grateful for the great times to get me through the trying ones...and yet find myself also grateful for the trying times…to help me appreciate the great ones.

I guess I better make a disclaimer here first.....Please don't take this wrong! I am not depressed....ready to stop life....feeling alone....etc. I guess I am just "thinking" aloud, if you will, at 12:30 in the morning; pondering, expressing gratitude and trying to understand a question that has caused my heart to ache for quite awhile now.

Anyway, back to my thoughts. I have been wondering what one does with a scar that one receives during a "trying time."

What do you do when the Lord literally "carries you to the hospital", "nurtures you", "takes away the pain" and eventually "heals your wounds"....and yet...you find yourself with a scar left where the wound was made. Not something painful....that would still be a wound, but a scar nonetheless.

Please don't misunderstand....I know the Lord is the Great Physician and I am not, nor ever could discount the power of the Atonement. I have personally felt and experienced His unexplainable healing powers more times than I desire in this earthly existence.....but I have found there are certain things that have "scared" my soul that seem will be a permanent part of my earthly life. How better to explain the thoughts of my heart:

Recently, my grandma and I were talking about grandpa and the scar he has on his abdomen. Apparently, he had his appendices out when he was a little boy. She was telling me that, although the scar was from an operation years (even decades) ago grandpa still flinches if she even comes close to touching him around that area---as if it were a fresh wound. Why is that?

Why is it that, even though 24 years ago I was given 10+ shots in my hands and feet, the memory still causes me to fear and cringe when I am told I need to get a shot? Why, when I honestly cannot "remember" the hurtful feelings that caused me to faint numerous times during the ordeal, do I fear any situation that reminds me of a shot?

Scars. The "natural part" of the "healing process" that helps mend the damaged tissue. Mends the broken, but leaves a reminder of what has happened.

I truly believe “scarring” is natural and a blessing in ones life. I do however wonder what to do with those scars that are like my grandfather's. The ones we don't want anyone to come near. The ones that cause us to jump and run at anything that reminds us of how we received it. The scars that are so sacred and deep that only our Father and His Son can understand and heal. The ones that causes the Savior himself to leave His courts on high to literally carry the soul of the wounded (if the wounded allows) until the perfect scarring tissue of the atonement can close and heal the wound. He leaves that job to no one, that I know!

Yes, I personally think "scarring" is so very important in this life. “Scarring” can help remind us of where we have been and where we never want to be again. They can allow us to "mourn with those who mourn" and help us remember the infinite goodness of a loving Savior--whose miraculous atonement has (and can) literally mended us in every way imaginable.

Physical scars can also remind us that we are living in mortality---that we are here for a test and that we have very imperfect bodies. It can remind us of the gift of the resurrection and the perfect body we will receive in the next thanks to our Savior.

As I look upon the scars on my hands (the ones I received years ago) I realize that I don’t notice them very often. I don't feel the pain of that dreadful day. I can't remember it, I can't relive the experience.....I have been healed in every aspect.....yet they are still there....ever reminding me of that horrible day that caused me so much pain…or if my “view” is different….if I "choose" to look at it in a different way… I can then see the recovery and healing process that has occurred in my life.

My hands have also remind me that Christ Himself bares physical scars. Even the Great Jehovah has scars! What a profound thought. Scars that I AM to think on daily. Scars that remind me that I am indebted to Him; that one can have scars and still be a happy radiant being. I am so grateful that He literally has set the example in all things.

So, as I try to overcome the fears associated with some of my scars, I will continue to look to one who's physical scars have been kept past the resurrection. I will look to Him and remember that, even though I have the “scars,” I have been healed, can continue to be healed and will be made perfect in the life to come because of Him (3 Nephi 11:14-15, Doctrine and Covenants 6:34-37--personal favorite).

Therefore, my thoughts tonight (or this morning) are...always remember it is natural and normal to find yourself with “scar tissue” here in mortality yet, if we live worthily, with faith, hope and charity I know, thanks to our Eldest Brother, our bodies and souls will rise in their perfect form to meet Him and the Father again. I am ever so grateful. I am so grateful to know this simple yet very profound truth! He lives! He lives and I will live because of Him, “scarless” someday! How I love Him for it!