I remember my mom telling me we needed to take off my Band-Aid because the wound needed open air to heal properly. It always went against everything in me to remove the covering that protected the injury from snagging, tearing deeper, or becoming infected.

Today I find myself repeating that to my girls and see the same fear in their eyes.

Exposing pain doesn’t make sense when hiding from the elements is possible.

Not to our bodies.

Not to our hearts.

I wish I could say my adult awareness of this physical concept has helped me adopt it emotionally but that would be a lie. I walk into areas of pain and struggle to expose it before others without some kind of mental game plan that gives me sense of strength.

I suppose my reasoning is the same as that Band-Aid when I was a little girl. Will people knowing somehow make the pain grow? Will it infect what feels like healthy areas of my life? Will I lose all control over the situation?

When I wrote about the recent cancer diagnosis in our family and my subsequent Bible Verse of the Year pick, I honestly published it to try and provide some upfront answers and claim some of my weakness. I thought in doing so there would be less need for more conversation. I was putting a Band-Aid on a very real wound before a knowing world.

Only God used it to take the Band-Aid off. {As it turns out, you can’t manipulate Him ☺}

What I thought would lead to less actually led to more.

I was exposed.

A national Christian radio DJ read my verse of the year post and asked me to call in, saying she believed my story could “greatly inspire others.”

People started quietly asking me questions, drawing out conversation.

People shared of their experiences and helped make me stronger.

People expressed their struggles with me and I got to lift up.

Shared tears became holy ground. Prayers wove me together with God’s people, some of whom I did not even know. And freedom to admit fear, defeat, hope against hope, and desire for different was released in the air to help invisible wounds heal.

My mission this year to be gentle in spirit because God is near nudges me to bare painful realities. To trust that God uses exposed wounds to not only help heal ourselves but to simultaneously restore others.

Healing will always involve risk, sisters.

What do you need to bring to light?

If we want to be made well, it’s time to peel off the Band-Aid.