Precious Lord, Take my hand.

. . .I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt . . . Hebrews 8:9

This is a beautiful word picture - God taking the Israelites by the hand to lead them to a better place. He didn’t just take Moses by the hand, He didn’t just take the children by the hand, He took them; all of them, each one of them. I visualize an atmosphere of danger, of hushed voices, of fearful anticipation. And then each person feels a Hand taking theirs. This Hand is one of comfort, strength, leading, protection. There is no ounce of force or control only love. Wow, what a God; a personal, merciful God.

It didn’t take long though for the Hand to somehow feel heavy, bothersome and pushy. Can you picture them slapping at the Hand saying, I can do it myself? I want to go this way.

And He lets go.

Someone to Believe in.

Paul packs many powerful words and phrases in the book of Hebrews. Here are just a few from Hebrews 6:9-20

confident

diligence

full assurance

immutability

strong consolation

hope as an anchor of the soul

sure and steadfast

These words speak to me. This is no wishy-washy, maybe, sort of, Person or concept. This is security, bigger than me, fortress, foundation Person. I can count on Him.

In Seeking to Be a Blessing, I am Blessed

I am waiting outside a hospital room. Waiting to talk to the patient and family about hospice: the services, the philosophy, the medicare benefit. As I am waiting I pray, asking God to be with this family during this difficult time. Praying that Christ can shine through me to bless them.

I go in and introduce myself and announce the purpose of my visit. The wife asks to talk to me in another room to allow her husband, the patient to sleep. As we discuss all of the things related to hospice she begins to tell me the story of her husbands illness. The trips to Boston, the treatments, etc. She says to me, Do you want to hear a weird story? I say yes and she relates the following story.

Her husband was in the hospital in Boston for a lengthy time. While he was there she stayed in a motel that was close and had shuttle service to the hospital. Each morning she would eat breakfast at 6:00 AM and the shuttle would come at 6:45 to take everyone to the hospital. The shuttle driver would arrive, come to the door of the lobby and announce shuttle service to the hospital. One morning she was eating breakfast, it was about 20 minutes after 6:00. The shuttle driver comes, walks right up to her and says, "Are you ready to go to the hospital?" She says yes and just the two of them go to the hospital. When she arrives at her husband's room he is writhing in pain unable to call for help. She immediately gets help and he is attended to by nurses. She looks at me and says, "Isn't that weird?"

I am completely amazed by God's provision for her and her husband that I am almost speechless. I asked her if she believed in God. She stated that she did. I said, Wow, isn't it amazing that God knew that your husband needed you right then and he sent the shuttle driver early to get you to take you to him? As you go through these next few weeks of difficult times caring for your husband you can know for sure that God cares about you so much that He gave you a miracle to hold on to and remember.

Seeking to be a blessing - I am blessed.

God cares about you, individually, personally, amazingly!