Dear Young Me: A Letter to Myself From the Future

2 Corinthians 12: 7 - 9   I was given a physical condition which has been a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to hurt and bother me, and prick my pride. Three different times I begged God to make me well again. Each time he said, “No. But I am with you; that is all you need.”

Dear Young Me:  A Letter to Myself From the Future

Dear Young Me:  What would you say if I told you twenty years from now you’ll erect a monument in honor of that thorn in your flesh that keeps you awake at night and is slowly tearing your soul apart? 

You ask God to take the thorn away or at least ease the pain. But perfect love stays His hand.

Your thorn will become the needle God uses to weave your incredible story. Your thorn bleeds the life and the light from you. But, Young Me, twenty years down the road you will RESURRECT.

God’s winding road will lead you to a Promise Land you can’t even conceive right now.

In Charles Swindoll’s book, “Elijah,” he recalls a story of cotton farmers whose crops were destroyed by the boll weevil. After the devastation, the farmers planted peanuts instead and made a fortune they would’ve never earned with cotton. In tribute, they erected an impressive monument to the boll weevil—the very thing they first thought destroyed them. 

Dear Young Me, you can’t see any good in your thorn right now. There’s no way you can imagine how God can turn your open wound into beauty. 

Take courage from my assurance that God will bring purpose from the thorn in your flesh. God has only goodness planned for you, even though it doesn’t look like it right now. He will reward your faithfulness with fullness and beauty, not only in Heaven, but in THIS life too. Your cup will one day overflow.

I promise.

I’ve seen the future, and you can take comfort in the fact that God does finally take that thorn away. And the scar you bear is your beauty mark. It is your unique testimony of battle, of bravery, of overcoming. Because of it, you are God’s chosen vessel to reach that person no one else can. 

Your scar is the instrument that transforms you into the Beauty you will become.  

And you are SO beautiful.

Jesus’ Message:

Saul was the thorn in David’s flesh. David suffered for years, hidden away in caves, and he dodged Saul’s spears more than once.

I could have removed his thorn with one errant arrow through a crack in Saul’s armor. But my plan was higher. David’s fear and depression in those caves penned much of the Psalms and became a fountain of hope for the oppressed. His thorns produced unparalleled faith and humility, and as a consequence he is the only person I distinguish in scripture as a man after My own heart. 

Joseph endured the thorn of injustice in the bottom of a well and in the pit of Pharaoh’s prison. The thorn I permitted was not for the purpose of suffering. It was to save his family from famine and make them into a great nation as I promised Abraham.

David was stalked by a madman, and Joseph toiled in a dungeon. Did it mean I was displeased with them? Absolutely not. I was intensely pleased with My servants. Do not interpret your thorn as a sign of my displeasure with you. On the contrary, your thorn is your path straight to My heart.

David’s kingdom was birthed in caves. Joseph’s status began at the bottom of a well. Beloved, you too are in the thick of the battle—at the crux of Real and Raw where nothing makes sense. 

But the story I am weaving makes sense. One day I will ask you to step out from the shadows and lead the people I give to you. The struggle you have endured has given you the maturity to manage that special assignment. 

And child, I will inhabit the monument you erect to your thorn.