“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
I think a lot about our hands and how we use them. A simple wave with a smile can mean so much to a lonely isolated person. We may not heal the sick or raise the dead as the hands of Jesus did, but He still sends us into the world to be His hands, feet and voice, and to do His work which He already prepared us for.
This scripture assures us that God prepared us ‘in advance’ to do good works. That could apply to any type of good work. We might end up in unexpected places or situations, but God prepared us for it in advance to do good wherever He leads us. We attend the church He sent us to, work at the job we were prepared for, and we reside in a neighborhood He meant for us to be in. He gave us the relatives and friends He wants us to have, to help and build each other up.
We not only use our hands, but our feet to go wherever He leads us. We use our voice to pray and speak words of comfort to others, who need to hear what we say.
Although my husband passed away seven years ago, he left me the gift of his two nieces and a nephew who live only 45 minutes away. They have been like blood relatives to me, and we share holidays and birthdays together. Over the years, my niece Gabrielle and I, share a special bond of faith with reliance on Jesus, as well as a passion for reading scripture.
Last week Gabrielle was admitted to the hospital, after having severe headaches for a week. An MRI revealed a blood clot in her left internal carotid artery, which is the artery that brings blood flow to the brain. The reason she didn’t have a stroke is because the other arteries brought enough blood flow to her brain in spite of the blockage. God made our bodies pretty amazing in that way, to keep the blood flowing any way possible.
It turned out to be a five day stay in the hospital, to treat her with blood thinners. Her headaches stopped and doctors watched to see if the heparin would do the job without an invasive surgical procedure.
She was admitted to the same hospital that I retired from, and I visited her each day, asking God how I could be His hands, feet, and voice, to help her at this time. She was naturally anxious, knowing that a clot was in such a crucial place. So my hands and feet were used to bring her lunch each day, since she didn’t care for the hospital food. My voice was used to visit and share stories with each other. Then I prayed for her at the end of each visit.
Thanks to the prayers of my friends, as well as her church friends, the repeat MRI showed the clot is decreasing and my niece was discharged yesterday. She did not require an invasive procedure, but is to continue taking blood thinners at home.
We never know ahead of time, what God has in mind when He calls us to be His hands and feet. He prepared us to do the work He calls us to do, which can mean a different thing with each person. For the past five days, all I did was bring lunch and hang out with Gabrielle. We caught up and learned more about each other than we ever did before.
Sometimes God stops us in our hectic busyness, using unexpected situations to make us rest and just hang out with people. It gave us a chance to catch up, and talk about her childhood, her father who recently passed away, and to share some of our favorite stories with each other.
We know that we are all meant to live one day at a time and to be still and know that God is with us, and yet we move busily through our days, doing so many tasks so that we seldom stop to be still. It takes unexpected circumstances to stop, rest, relax and reminisce with those who are in our lives. Those five days were spent doing simple things, like sitting still and sharing, which was good for both of us.
Lord, we offer our hands, feet and voice to you, and ask that you give us the grace to be an expression of your stillness and love to others. Amen
