Hands

I have had some issues with writers block recently and I have been praying for some inspiration.  I kept getting 'hands' as my answer and today I know why.  My beautiful friend has a newsletter titled W.I.N.E. (Women In Need of Empowerment) and I received the April 2010 issue today.....it made me understand why I had been given that word.  It isn't that I do not appreciate the blessings in my life I have been job searching and my frustration is growing because all that I have found is a substitute position at a Christian School.  I guess that I just need to be patient and wait.  I hope that her newsletter blesses your life as much as it did/does mine.

Read on.....

Welcome to W.I.N.E. your inspirational e-newsletter. Thank you for continuing to support us through your donations and prayers. It is because of supporters like you that we are able to Keep W.I.N.E. Flowing.


By now, we have all heard many inspiring truths from the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to what was inside the countless Easter Eggs found by young people. W.I.N.E. is taking a nontraditional approach to our publications this month. Instead, what I would like to present to you is the question: What's in Your Hand?

Why is it so easy to fixate on what we do not have versus working with what we got? If given the opportunity we can make an extensive list of deficiencies. One way for life to have meaning is for us to recognize and appreciate what we already have. During the early 1990's my husband and I were living overseas, far away from family and friends. We were a young couple, newly married and still discovering the challenges of married life. One evening as I was preparing a meal and suddenly realized we were out of bread; literally, we had no dough in the house or in our pockets if you get my meaning.

What is amazing is the time and energy I spent murmuring over what we did not have. With most meals, I never ate bread, but this day I was hysterical to the point of crying out to God that we had no bread. By the time my husband got home, I had twisted myself into an internal knot. He changed and joined me in the kitchen complimenting me on the meal I had prepared. Meanwhile, I raved on and on about there being no bread. My husband began opening the cabinets and moving things around. Finally, I sat down in despair, mentally listing all the things we did not have. After a moment or two, I lifted my head to see him holding a box of Bisquick.

By now, I am so frenzied, I say to myself, "This man is crazy, he's holding a box of Bisquick up at me and smiling." So, I humor him by asking what in the world did he expect me to do with that. He laughed and said, "You've been crying that we have no bread and here I stand holding bread in my hand." I just wanted to scream until I come to myself realizing if you have a bit of ready mixed flour you can make a bit of bread. Of course, my husband ended up baking the bread to go with our meal while I sat pouting that we still had no sliced bread. In the end, the biscuits were far better than any store bought bread on that day.

I know you are saying what a silly matter to get bent out of shape over. However, the example in this story is a mirror for you. If you look closely, you will see yourself doing the same thing over something just as minuscule. All we needed was in our hands; we just had to extend ourselves a bit more than we were accustomed to doing.

What has God placed in your hand and are you using it to the full? He placed a box of Bisquick in our hands and that bread represented hope to us. Hope that everything would turn out well while we were learning the survival skills of early-married life. Hope in God that He is our source for all we need. I encourage you today to stop and take a closer look at your own gifts, your own talents, your own opportunities and begin the transition of being transformed out of a place of necessity to a place of abundance.

Participate in a five-day online devotional by clicking on What's in Your Hand so that you too can walk with a transformed outlook on what you already have.

Abiding,

Jackie O.

Founder, W.I.N.E.

Be sure to visit Jackie's site to read back issues and to explore the great things that she has to offer:  http://stayonthevine.com/