Frostbite

“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭147:3‬ ‭

It’s distinctly odd that ‘frostbite’ should burn.

Now, don’t get your undies in a knot. It’s just a touch, and only on my nose (the skin of which is starting to peel), and I’m certain my prognosis is life.

It’s just that it was a holiday, and we were in the mountains. The mountains! A gal smack in the middle of the prairies doesn’t get that very often. A freak storm blew in, dropping the temperatures from Not Too Bad to Stupid Cold.

But a gal needs to see her mountains…so she ventured out a few times, bundling up well in layers and state of the art windproof fabrics.

She just couldn’t always cover her nose because her dang glasses kept fogging up.

Hence the touch of frostbite.

I’m lucky. I won’t even need a bandage, let alone a ‘binding of my wounds’ this go around.

Unlike some of our global neighbours.

There are many, many precious broken hearted ones in Ukraine today. And Afghanistan. And Ethiopia. And Burkina Faso. This is a cold, brutally cold world we live in – and it is inevitable that some of us should experience frostbite in all its terrible forms at times.

Which is why it is so crucial to remember God’s character right now.

This is a God who spun stars out of nothing, invented geo-physics, and keeps Jupiter from going on a rampage. Yet here He is, a veritable Florence Nightingale, whispering calm assurances and getting His hands dirty in our pain in order to apply gauze where it hurts.

He is a God of order and peace. Do not think for one moment that our antics on earth and all the distress they cause is His doing.

No. No, that is entirely on us. We were the ones heading into the cold without protection, so to speak. Our wounds lay at our own doorsteps.

But oh, the tenderness with which this magnificent and powerful God does His rounds, checking in on us, applying His grace and mercy wherever needed.

I have wounds that are still healing.

So do you, I’ll wager.

So do our friends around the world who are afraid, oppressed, discouraged – the Walking Wounded.

My frostbite was light this time. Yours may be deep and oozing and infected.

Pray to the God who heals with me?

Father, the news distresses and alarms us. We can’t help but fear for our world when it is such a cold and exacting place in which to live. Protect our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, and in other conflicts around the globe today. Heal broken hearts and bandage wounds! Amen.