My Hands

Recently I read a devotional about a doctor who told his patient, “I have done all I can do. Now it is in God’s hands."

Funny I thought everything already was in GOD’S HANDS! After all for those of us who believe in God, He is the one we know as having created us, and everything there is or ever was, or is yet to be, He created.

I can’t tell you how many times the thought of His Hands comes to mind. As I sit here and put my thoughts to paper, I remember the first time He made me aware of His Hands. I speak about the first pair in another article in this website. Just in case you aren’t aware of that little story, let me fill you in.

While I was at a local flea market many years ago, I spotted a pair of white milk glass hands clasped together, palms up. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. But when I inquired as to the price, I was told they were not for sale, they were used for display. I stood there a long time wondering, not knowing why I was so drawn to them and finally I walked away, determined to find another pair just like them. I had to find the answer.

I walked all over that day looking for another pair, but there were no others. I went back once more to inquire if he wouldn’t please consider selling them. His final answer was no. While I left disappointed, I knew in time those hands would be given to me in some form or another. And sure enough they were, about a month later at an antique shop.

I brought them home and asked God, why was I so drawn to having these? The answer I received was simply, Put Everything Into My Hands. How simple, I already knew that was the message He was trying to convey to me, yet I was having difficulty doing that. I immediately wrote out a prayer and placed it in His Hands. That first pair is now in my little 2 X 4 sacred space over a dormer in my home. (I also have a duplicate brass pair in the chapel.)

I am now looking at another pair of hands, one with a little angel girl who has her own little hands clasped together in prayer, encircled in a pair of man’s hands. This time I recognized immediately they represented my precious little granddaughter being taken care of by God. Sometime this past summer, I found a blue and white ceramic female angel kneeling with hands clasped in prayer. She has a candle there in front of her. I have given several of these as encouragement gifts to people going through difficult times.

When I completed the Labyrinth on September 11th, 2001, I wanted something special to be the focus at the center to represent the climax of the walk.

One day as I was driving down a busy highway, I saw this huge concrete pair of open hands, just like the milk glass hands I described above. I must tell you I was so shocked! It was like He was conveying the message once more. That was what He wanted in the center of the Labyrinth!

Unfortunately they were way too large for the labyrinth, not to mention the fact that they cost $175.00. I decided that if God really did want those hands in the Labyrinth, he would have to provide the means for those particular ones, or put me on to some other maybe smaller ones. As He always does, in His time, He came through, at a store in the mall that always has out of the ordinary gifts.

At the very back wall of the store were - you guessed it - a smaller version of His Hands cupped together with a bird perched near the wrist.  On the back of the hands are written the words "By His Hands We All Are Fed."

I was so excited, that I was prepared to pay far more than the $10.00 cost. I knew these were the Hands He wanted me to use down at the labyrinth. 

It’s so true, by "His Hands We All Are Fed!" 

Not only with food for our stomachs but food for our spirits.  After all that is the food we need to nourish our souls. 

As I thought again of the devotional I had read, I wondered why is it that most of us go FIRST to the doctor, rather than GOD, the Almighty Healer? When all else fails through human effort then we go to God in prayer! If I were looking at this from God’s perspective, I would be wondering about this!

After all, who has the ultimate power to heal? Who actually does the healing? Is it is not God, who gives the gift of Healing to the doctors, to act as His Instrument? Jesus said himself, “The Father who dwells in me does the works” (John 14:10). In the miraculous works of healing that Jesus did, the Father was manifesting Himself in Jesus, in the human form, to accomplish God’s purpose. And Jesus knew that!

Why I ask, don’t we?  Why not put the problem in God’s Hands FIRST?  Do we think He isn’t capable?  Wait with a patient faith-filled attitude to hear God’s instructions as to what direction He wants us to go.

He will answer at His appropriate time and there will be no doubt as to what He wants us to do. It will always be in our best interest. His answer may well be, go to one of my faithful servants (the physician) through which I will heal you, but I will be your healer, for I am a jealous God, who will not have any other gods before me.

Then I receive the full credit, and man will be humbled at being a part of my work. God provides us with food for our bodies, but God also is the one who feeds our Spirit.

We are first spiritual beings in a material body, which in time will wear out and perish, as is His plan. But WE NEED His nourishment for our spirit with His truth, love, and guidance. He teaches us and gives us His spiritual food through His Word, and through others who make the choice to follow Him. He is a mighty and wonderful counselor, who knows what we need before we ask. That is why His Hands have such importance to me, and why I am drawn to them whenever I see them. It is symbolic of telling me how much I need Him.