I recently wood burned an image of Jesus’s hand. The artist I used to copy had drawn His hand as a carpenter’s hands would be. Strong and rough with little lines that could be cuts or could be cracking from the work, and in the center of that hand was a big, black hole. A nail hole.
I can’t help but think of the hands of the men I care about when I think of Jesus’s hands. They are the hands I have held to compare to. It’s easy for me to imagine that His hands are rough and strong and perhaps have sand or wood shavings on them. It’s easy for me to see them as hands where I could hold on and swing my feet off the ground and they wouldn’t drop me. But those are in the good times. When bad times hit it is too easy to take our eyes off of Jesus and feel like He has let go of our hand. But in truth, we have let go of His. He will never let us go.
Those hands were pierced for us.
Author: carriedinthecross
I am a young woman who grew up in British Columbia. In BC was all I ever wanted; I had my poodle (Max) and all my friends, Saturdays at the Vancouver Aquarium and Sunday afternoons at one of my favorite beaches it was paradise. But God had a different plan for my life and my dad's job landed us in Alberta and now where I remain, in small town Souris Manitoba. The transitions from paradise to prairie were difficult and I will admit that now 10 years later I still refer to home as Abbotsford BC. Through this crazy pathway trek across Canada I have had one true constant, God; and though none of it was easy, everything that has happened in my life has formed in me a true lasting friendship with the one I call Immanuel. Because no matter how far from home we are God is with us, and thanks to God I have found an almost completely over looked beauty in Manitoba. If you open your eyes you will see that God has planted wondrous things everywhere you go.
Hands part 2
Mark 12:36 referenced King David when David said that Lord spoke to Him, promising to keep Him at His right hand.
God often spoke of being at His right hand.
In this train of thought I looked up the importance of the right hand man. Of course this is not what God was meaning, but it brought a new perspective A website called Monster-work said the best right hand person should be as follows:
When searching for this key figure, consider the following: Trustworthiness: Look for someone with a proven track record of reliability. Complementary Skills: Your ally should possess strengths that enhance your own. Diversity of Thought: He/she should bring new ideas and perspectives.
This is very much what having God at OUR right hand is like, that is very different from being at His right hand but we will cover that in a second. God is always reliable! He is 100% trustworthy. He uses our strengths to bless His kingdom and His uses His power to bless us. He often shows us a perspective different from our own. And best of all, He is always on our side.
Now. Being at GOD’S right hand means that you are in place of honor. If God is defending you with His right hand, then He has placed you in a place of importance to Him. God’s right hand is often a metaphor for God’s power as well, He will say “I will strike them down with my right hand” < Paraphrased >
His right hand is both safe to those who love Him and dangerous to those who don’t.
Thankfully, we as His children are shielded by His powerful right hand.
Hands part 1
Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s handiwork!
Think on that for a moment. We are God’s handiwork. Handiwork is defined as something someone made- a synonym for Handiwork is handcrafted, which of course means skillfully made. This makes me think of the fearfully and wonderfully made verse. We were made with skill by hand, by God’s hands. He put us together piece by piece, ion by ion, chemical by chemical until at last we were His perfect creation.
Whenever we receive a gift that is hand made we smile a little more because of the effort that went into it, the love and time needed to keep create it. God gave is the handmade gift of ourselves, we are special and unique and put together with effort and love.
Are you hurting? Turn to Jesus
Sometimes you are hurting but don’t notice it because you are busy carrying all the burdens. Take a moment and breathe and connect with your feelings. Then take those feelings and turn them over to God. When everyone is relying on you it’s easy to feel like you have to keep a brave face and hold on. But God. God never called you to be strong in yourself, He called you to be strong through Him. Take your pain, anger, fear and sorrow and place it all in His hands, then walk away. I don’t mean stop praying about it, I mean stop holding onto it like it’s your burden to hold. His yoke is easy remember? His burden is light. He is not going to give you a bunch of stuff to deal with and then walk away. God will carry you. Trust Him.
Open your ears
Open up your ears and hear. Just like how a dog will perk his ears so he can hear something better, we need to perk our ears to hear God’s voice better. We need to make an effort to listen and to hear what God is saying. It probably won’t come in the form an actual voice you hear, but rather in the form of a feeling or a thought that coincides with the Bible and is clearly not of your own mind. So, cup a hand over your ear and listen, His voice is something we don’t want to miss.
And just like that….
And just like that….
So. You go about your day totally fine. You meet some people, you smile and laugh, and then the next day hits and boom, just like that you have a cold. You were fine the day before, but somewhere along the line you were exposed to a virus and now you are sick. Your cells are fighting the virus with all they’ve got and all you can do is walk around and be host to the battle. One day the cold will leave, but not without a struggle.
Sin is like that. You are fine and go about your day, you expose yourself to some minor things but are not affected by them, then some more minor things add on and some more, until one day you look at yourself and realize you are no longer living like a Christian. But God. God is like your white blood cells, He is fighting the battle against your sin. Unlike your cold, however, you are not just a host to the battle, this battle you fight too. You walk away from sin, you spend more time with Jesus. You fight everyday with your desires and you teach yourself to have only one desire, Jesus.
It’s funny how Jesus helps us fight to get closer to Him, when He is who we are trying to draw closer to.
He battles for us even when we don’t live Him or acknowledge Him. He is our true friend.
Beyond science
Beyond science
Have you ever known someone with an illness? I mean a real illness not just a cold. I have. The moment when the doctors say, “We don’t know, it’s beyond where our science is at.” Is a scary moment. We rely so heavily on science and doctors that when they have no answers we become afraid. Who will help is if the experts don’t know what to do? Where will go from here?
But God.
God made you. He is beyond the science because He created the science. He knows all of it. All of how you feel and where you are at. He knows. He has always known. We feel that means that He should fix us and that we shouldn’t still get sick and injured, but that’s not how things work. It makes mad and hurt when God does not heal, but sometimes the miracle is simply His sustaining power. He is God, He knows it all. He has all the answers, we just need to trust in Him.
He knows
He knows
Those battles you fight. Those problems and pains you go through that you tell no one about. Those needs, fears, desires, fallings, sicknesses, screams in the back of your mind, dark pits that circle, boxes you can’t climb out of, endless nights, days that won’t go away. All of it. Jesus is there. You may tell no one. You may never ask for help or sympathy, but He knows. It’s the moment when you feel you have been fighting alone all night long and you suddenly feel an arm around you. You look and see no one, then you realize, it’s Jesus. Those days when you felt like no one could hear or see you, but He hears and sees you. You feel like you scream alone, but He holds your hand and screams with you until your screaming is done and you feel like you will make it. He will make it so you can make it. You fall, but never hit bottom because He catches you.
No matter what. Jesus is there. In all my circumstances- But God.
Be persistent
In a battle of wills between a dog and a cat, the dog will win. Because the dog is persistent and the cat will get bored.
When you fighting your battles, remember, even if your strength diminishes and you feel you can’t go on, if all you do is keep going forward you will eventually succeed. Never doubt the value of being persistent.
When we pray we can easily feel like nothing is happening and some days we want to just give up. But God. God is working on things we cannot see, yet. We will see the outcome if we don’t give up and walk away.
Slaves? Servants? Or children.
How did God manage to enslave us into doing His will? Answer. He didn’t. So why do we serve Him? Because we love Him. And why do we love Him? Because He loves us.
The world says that we who serve God simply don’t have the power to live on our own. That we aren’t strong enough to accept that it’s all up to us. But it has nothing to do with our inability to care for ourselves. It’s harder to serve someone else than it is to only serve Y O U. We are not slaves to God, doing His will under a lash. We are His beloved children. If a parents asks you to do something or to not do something, why do you listen? Okay. Yes. Some kids listen out of fear. But most kids who obey do it because they love their parents and want to make them happy. Why do they love their parents? Because their parents love them. They care for them and help them because their children are the most important things in the world to them. In return the children love and obey their parents because there’s a part of you that always says, I want to be worthy of this love they give. You don’t need to be worthy they don’t require you to be worthy, they simply love you, but when you love them back you want to do all you can to make them smile. We can never be worthy of God’s love. But we can love Him back and show Him that we care for Him by serving Him, obeying Him, and honoring Him.
Carried in the cross 