Peeling Back the Layers

By Hazel Holland

Did you ever feel like God was peeling back the layers of pain in your life in order to expose something that you didn't really want to see?   He will do that you know, because He longs to restore our wounded souls and bring healing to our hurting hearts.

Thirty years ago when I painted just the onion part of this watercolor, it was the ugliness of unforgiveness that was buried deep within my heart.  But I was not yet ready to really see the ugliness that was in my own heart.  All the wrongs that had been done against me as a child, and all the pain that had been inflicted upon me as an adult by my own sins and the sins of others...it had all left its ugly scars.

Then later... in God's timing, He showed me that my heart was like a red onion, I saw that each white layer of pain and unforgiveness were the scars in my life that were always covered by a red layer of His saving blood.

I not only recognized that I was covered by Christ's blood and forgiven for my sins, but the sins of others done against me were also covered by His blood! Even before I had repented of the hardness of my own heart, I had been forgiven!

The truth of God's heart of agape love brought me to my knees. The goodness of God led me to repentance. It broke my heart to see such love revealed in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for me.

Seeing God's goodness revealed to me like this freed me to forgive myself, and let go of the hurt and wounds from my past. It set me free to love others unconditionally with God's agape love.

So tonight I finished the painting by placing the imagery of the peeled onion on a colorful patchwork quilt.  Each piece of the quilt represents different aspects of my life that God has restored and healed by His Spirit. 

Of course healing and forgiveness is an on-going process.  But it's the only way to live life to the fullest.  Because His love has restored my soul and healed my heart, I want you  to experience His healing grace, too.♥

To see a larger copy of this art print click here.