God's Hand

Proverbs 3:27 (MSG)
Never walk away from someone who deserves help;  your hand is God's hand for that person.


Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes in history.

I went on a missions trip to assist the victims affected by Hurricane Katrina.  It was my job to help with relieving the staff in a local nursing home in one of the towns that was hit extremely hard by the disaster.  The nurses had worked around the clock since the disaster had occurred.  Some of them had only been able to take eight hours off at a time.  They used that time to sleep on uncomfortable couches in the waiting rooms of their facility. Many of them had no homes to go back too, so they were doing the only thing that they knew to do....work and help to cover shifts of those who couldn't get in to work.

I went on the trip expecting to be working directly with injured victims in the hardest hit areas on the coastline, but that wasn't what my assignment ended up being.  Instead, it was working in this nursing home.  Not near as adventurous as I had hoped, I ashamedly admit.  I talked to the Lord about this in a rather "Israelite in the dessert" sort of way.  You know what I mean?  Complaining a bit that I wanted to be "used by Him", basically to save the world!!  (Pathetic when I think about it.) 

As I worked on the unit with these precious patients, I discovered an entire world of perseverance and long suffering in their lives that I had never seen before.  As I met their physical needs day in and day out, I began to see their spiritual needs as well.  I asked the Lord to forgive me for my previous ridiculous attitude and prayed for grace and favor to share His love with them.  As always, He forgave me and heard my request. As the days went by, He gave me His words to share with them and revealed to me the privilege of serving others.

The whole experience blessed me immeasurably!  I learned the valuable lesson that we should never question God's assignments in our lives, no matter how big or small we think they are.  I also learned that as a believer in Christ, when I extend my hand to help someone, it is not really my hand, but His hand.   Thanking God tonight for the lessons He teaches me on a daily basis.