“Look at my hand,” I told my husband Kenya about a week ago, holding up my left palm.
“Wow, it’s trembling,” he said.
I tried to steady it, but couldn’t.
I had just finished lifting light weights, working to strengthen it.
You see, as a result of breaking my wrist in 2011 and having surgery to repair it, my left hand and arm were greatly weakened. Doctors told me I damaged the nerves and tendons pretty badly.
For a while there, I couldn’t move my arm or hand at all.
My doctor recommended physical therapy, which didn’t go well at all. In fact, my therapist told me how bad my condition was and referred me back to my doctor.
The difficulty level of moving my fingers and grasping things, for a long time, was discouraging.
The pain and swelling that would result from exercising had me thinking I was doing more damage than good. So I was extra careful, trying my best to avoid anything I thought might be too strenuous.
Although I received clearance from my doctor to challenge myself and work the muscles in the weaker arm, every time I did, things seemed to get worse.
Still, I kept at it.
Gradually, I started doing more with my arm.
Recently, I’ve really been challenging myself.
Some days, while shaking and sweating during workout sessions, I keep telling myself, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Speaking the word of God back to myself always helps me get through it. At times, my three-pound weight feels like an enormously heavy object, but I pray and keep on pressing.
Earlier yesterday evening, after completing my strength training regimen, I told Kenya, “Look at my hand.”
“It’s shaking again?” he asked.
Then Kenya looked a little closer.
“Oh wait, it’s not shaking at all,” he said. “Wow! That means it’s getting stronger.”
I smiled widely.
The last time I worked my left arm out without my hand shaking afterward, was before I broke it. By trusting God for strength and stretching beyond limitations, I’ve seen incredible results.
I’m encouraged to keep pressing on.
Recently, I mentioned how Jesus healed the man with the withered hand in Mark 3:1-6. He simply told the afflicted man, “Stretch out your hand.”
In verse 5, the Bible says, “He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”
Even after Jesus spoke, his hand was still shriveled up. There was no visible change until he stretched it out.
In Hebrew, that word “withered” is xéros, which means dry. It is the same word for dry land. In this context, however, it denotes one of the members of the body being deprived of its natural juices, leaving it shrunken, wasted and withered.
For so long, there was no blood flowing to this man’s hand. It was dry and deprived of what it needed to thrive. But when he stretched out that hand in faith at the Lord's command, restoration took the place of deprivation.
Friend, wherever your “xéros,” or dry place may be, God will restore it. No matter how long you have been deprived of what you need, change is coming your way.
Stretch your faith. Believe God as never before. Expect to see change happen. God is calling you to stretch!
Do you remember when God told Moses to stretch out his rod over the Red Sea in Exodus 14:26-27?
Well, the children of Israel had an expansive body of water in front of them and Pharaoh and his army chasing them from behind. It didn't look good. It seemed that they were trapped.
But Moses obeyed God. He stretched out his rod and that’s when God stretched out His hand, and parted the Red Sea. Moses, just like the man with the withered hand, had to do something first.
In Genesis 22:10, after God commanded Abraham to offer up his only son Isaac as a sacrifice, the Bible says Abraham stretched out his hand to slay Isaac. As agonizing as this must have been, Abraham still stretched out his hand and his faith.
At that moment, the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham from heaven and revealed that there was a ram caught in the thicket that would be used for the sacrifice instead.
Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh, which means, The Lord Will Provide.
Not only did God provide, but in verses 17-18, He pronounced a blessing over Abraham's life. The Lord told him, "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice."
Listen, the same God who provided for Abraham and blessed Him, is alive and at work in your life today.
God is still Jehovah-jireh. He still provides. He still makes ways. He still heals. He still restores. He still sets free!
If you want to see Him work, stretch your faith. Stretch beyond limited thinking. Stretch beyond fear. Stretch beyond worry. Stretch beyond the walls those negative voices have erected in your mind.
How do you stretch? You simply put your confidence in the Lord. When you do that, in His way and His timing, He’ll come through for you.
To encourage you to trust Him, I’m stirring Psalm 9:10 NIV into your cup of inspiration, which says, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”
As you drink down the contents of your cup, put your faith in the Lord. Know that He is faithful to deliver.
Expect Him to do the miraculous in your life.
Don't be afraid to stretch.
Now let’s pray.
God, today, I’m taking the limits off You. I’m believing You for greater things in my life. No longer will I allow doubt, fear and worry to control me, but I will put my trust in You—the One who never fails! Thank You in advance for all the ways You will move in my life according to Your perfect will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As always, thanks for reading and until next time... may today's cup of inspiration uplift, encourage, and empower you!
If you need prayer, don't hesitate to request it. I would be honored to stand in faith with you. I know that prayer works. CLICK HERE to learn how to submit your prayer request.
