Can you imagine running for more than 30 years? Sounds exhausting, right? But I’m not talking about the kind of running that requires you to wear athletic training gear and the latest joggers, I’m talking about internal running where you’ve let the wounds of fear, rejection, and abandonment control you. I’m not a trained counsellor, however, over three decades of running, I’ve learned how Satan tracks us down time and time again and wounds us until we have bled out for so long that we become tired from the chase, surrendering our weary, wounded souls to his darkness. This is why I am so excited about my brand new book  ‘Wounded And On The Run: How the Worst Pain Can Lead You Into Your Greatest Calling’ (which will be officially released next week!) because I know how many wounded souls need to find this little cabin in the forest of their pain and allow the healing oil of Gilead to dress and soothe their wounds, guiding them gently toward a path where victory and freedom are found, turning wounds into victorious scars.¹

So, what’s all this talk about wounding and blood trailing? Why write about an animal like the elk? Well, I always wanted to write about the healing power of redemption but couldn’t quite figure out how to do that. That was until one afternoon I picked up a book that had been sitting on my bookshelf for years called, Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. I started to re-read this great book and believe me when I tell you that I only managed to get a few pages in when the Holy Spirit took a hold of my heart as I read this line, “A bull elk can easily cover miles of rugged country in that amount of time, especially if he is wounded or on the run.” ²

That’s when I saw an image of a deer-like animal in my mind and the words, ‘Wounded and on the Run’ pressed into my spirit. I knew God wanted me to write about His redeeming grace, and He wanted me to entwine the testimony of my wounds that He has turned into victorious scars within the story of the elk. I don’t know about you, but when God asks me to do something scary, something out of my comfort zone, something that I know is going to stretch me like my skinny jeans going over my thighs after a Christmas break, I start to make excuses. Testimony of my wounds? That was just too much to ask as it would be too painful to retrace the scars and go back over the memories I had been left with. I argued with God and told Him that “I don’t want to depress people about church wounds, I don’t want people to run away from You more, I want people to find Your redemption power, Your love, Your grace. And, might I add, what in God’s creation is an elk?”  

But regardless of my pleas and begging, God insisted. So, I started to research this elusive animal called elk, or more to the point, a North American bull elk and found some interesting things about this majestic animal that fascinated me. Firstly, elk are known for their strength and stamina. “Okay God, You’ve hooked me in.” The words strength and stamina were all this warrior woman needed to get her interest roused! Amazingly, the more I researched the North American elk, the more I learned about blood trailing and how the uncanny parallels between a wounded Christian and a wounded elk rang true. 

Blood trailing is when a bow hunter or a rifle hunter will track an elk, wound it, and then chase it through the forest until he finds it and kills it. It’s classic hunter versus beast as the hunter looks for blood marks left on trees and tracks on the forest floor left by the elk so the hunter knows which way it ran. Listen, dear friend, if you’ve lived in this world long enough, I’m sure you’ve got some wounds, and just like a human hunter who finds an elk to wound, Satan is hellbent on hunting you down and firing his arrows or bullets into your most vulnerable places to wound you too. The sting from your wounds that have left a blood trail for the hunter to follow, wounds from your past whenever you’ve felt abandoned, or rejected is the blood trail Satan follows. Perhaps you’re running out of fear?  Fear that you’re not enough, or that you will never have enough, fueling the adrenalin to keep running.  

It’s time to come out of your hiding and find a healing place, a little wooden cabin within the pages of my book. A cabin that was formed and built for others who want to stop running, wounded ones who are fed up with the hunter tracking them down. Weary runners and wounded saints who need to find the redeeming blood trail Jesus left behind at the cross. Proverbs 24: 3-4 says, ‘Through wisdom, a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.’ 

This cabin has been built on the foundations of understanding, it has been established by the knowledge of the things which have caused you to run, leaving a blood trail behind you for the hunter, Satan to follow you and eventually take you out. The rooms in this cabin are filled with pleasant and precious riches that have been collected over the years. Not riches of gold and jewels, but riches that have been forged from learning to trust, to forgive others even when it’s hard, even when it feels too painful. 

I know it’s not easy and my testimony found in the pages of ‘Wounded and on the run‘ has been a long journey of soul healing and soul searching. It is a story of how I allowed Jesus to eventually soothe my wounds and turn them into victorious scars. And even though it’s painful, hard, and oh so scary, to let Jesus clean up your wounds, it’s worth it because you’re worth it. Here that? You are WORTH it. Your worth is what led Jesus to the cross. Your worth paved the way for Jesus to sacrifice Himself so you could follow the path of redemption. The path when you’ve felt abandoned, betrayed, and discarded, a way that leads you toward His freedom and His peace. 

So, take off those muddied shoes, find a cosy chair near the fire and get comfortable because you’ve run for too long my friend, and now it’s time to let Jesus show you His scars so your wounds turn into victorious scars just like His. The scars that will tell you of a long-forgotten story of who you are and Whose you are. A story of how He rescued you from the hunter, Satan and how He will help you to become better equipped and ready for the days ahead. Come on dear friend, walk through the narrow door and into the cabin and let Jesus turn your wounds into victorious scars.  

Wendy xo 

Feel as though you’ve run too far and are too wounded for Jesus to heal you in this little wooden cabin? 

I pray that today is the day you stop running and allow Jesus to touch and heal your wounds with His scars. I pray that you come inside the cabin and rest awhile from running. I pray that in that rest you will learn to rise up and step into the greatest calling God has for you as you become equipped and empowered to stop the hunter in his tracks. All because Jesus turned your wounds into victorious scars. Amen.  

If you would like to Pre-Order a copy of my book, ‘Wounded And On The Run‘ before it is released on October 7th 2022, head over to the dollministries.com website.

References

1. Excerpt from ‘Wounded And On The Run: How The Worst Pain Can Lead You Into Your Greatest Calling.’ Published by Daughters of Love & Light, Adelaide, SA, 2022.
2. Eldredge, John. ‘Wild at Heart’ Nashville, Tennessee, ThomasNelson: 2001. Page2.