I was asked to speak at a Ladies' Christmas event at a local church. Since I wrote out my talk and since I haven't posted anything on here for so long, I thought I'd post my talk and the link to the music video I made to go along with it. Enjoy!
Who doesn’t love a newborn’s hands and feet? One of the first things new parents do is
count their baby’s fingers and toes and admire just how tiny they really
are! I’m sure Mary was no different when
Jesus was born. She probably wrapped
those wee newborn fingers around her own and kissed those delicious baby
toes. I wonder if she had any thought of
where Jesus’ feet would take him, the countless miles they would walk and many people
they would lead him to? I wonder if she
had any idea the wondrous miracles those hands would perform, the broken lives
they would touch?
People today are still completely enamored with baby hands and
feet. They cast them in silver, they
print them onto anything and everything, they even tattoo them onto their
bodies. I even came across a set of
stamps, one of a baby’s foot and the other of a baby’s hand. Cute idea!
We all start off with tiny little hands and feet filled with so much
potential!
July 2011 my husband and I went back to northern Canada to our parents’
homes to finish packing and shipping the rest of our belongings. While we were there we visited my in-law’s
church. After the service we were
visiting old friends in the foyer and were introduced to a couple our age whose
two daughters were heading to New Zealand in January to attend Capernwray Bible
College. We made the quick connection
and agreed to help them out if we could.
In January we welcomed the girls to New Zealand, picked them up at the
airport, showed them around Auckland before sending them on their way to
Cambridge for bible school. Later that
year in June my dad had knee replacement surgery. I was sad I couldn’t be there to be with him
and my mum and had written something about it on facebook. My new friend, Shannon, asked if there was
anything she could do. She took my dad a
cup of Tim Hortons and sat and visited with him and my mum. What a
blessing! Someone I had only met
briefly, had become my hands and feet to my dad and mum in my absence. About two days after this happened, I was asked
to speak at this event. Immediately I
knew what I wanted to talk about – being the hands and feet of Jesus to those
around us.
Do you know that nowhere in the bible does it actually say that we are to
be the hands and feet of Jesus? It does
say in Matthew 28:19 “Go into all the world and make disciples.” There
are two words in that verse that should inspire us. The first is ‘go’. We need to get up and move. Go. Use the feet
God has blessed us with to take us to the people we can care for and share Jesus
with. The second word is ‘make’. When we
make something we use our hands. Now of course we are not building a disciple
of Christ out of clay to make them, but we do need to use our hands to do the
work to show people Jesus’ love and lead them to a relationship with him. I
want to share with you some people who are amazing examples of living out that
verse and in doing so they ARE the hands and feet of Jesus.
Have you heard of
Nick Vujicic? He is an Australian man
who now lives in California. He was born
with no arms and no legs, to a pastor and his wife. He tells of his birth and how the room went
completely silent when he was born and how his father fled the room when he saw
him and how his mother asked them to take him away when she saw him. After coming to terms with their son’s
condition, they raised him to be a young man who knows no limits. I believe
that God has blessed him with a ministry that will pick up where Billy Graham
has left off. His story and his passion
and his love for people is unbelievable.
The following
is an excerpt from his website: Life Without Limbs . org: God’s work is a mystery to me, and I’m
not going to try and explain His ways, only to say that I love how two complete
strangers can have a connection from the beginning. That’s how I felt when I
received a note from a friend of our ministry. When I read Debbie’s words, I
felt known, understood and trusted. Here
is part of what she said:
“You are the legs that carry me around the
world. You are the arms that hug the people I wish
I
could reach. I am so happy to have the opportunity to give my love to the world
through you.” Wow! She so eloquently puts into words what Life
Without Limbs is all about. It’s amazing that God would use a guy without
arms and legs to represent Him! I’m helpless by human standards, but God
works through our weaknesses to bring Him glory. Only He could imagine,
orchestrate and write the script of my life! God has been speaking to me these
days, and I’m beginning to envision the next phase of the ministry. Lately,
I’ve been sensing the Lord calling me to do another World Tour. In 2008, we
traveled to ten countries in ten weeks and saw amazing results for the Kingdom.
It was awesome! When I got this card from Debbie, it was just one more confirmation
that God may be saying, “Hey Nick, I want you to be my arms, legs and
voice around the world. Go spread God’s love, Nick!”
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 I’m
willing to get on airplanes, take long bus rides, and travel to the ends of the
earth to tell others about Jesus. But I cannot do it alone. I need you. Let’s
make a difference together.
I highly
recommend both of his books and anything you can watch of his on youtube.
We have longtime
friends from back in Canada. They are in
their late 50’s, early 60’s. Seven years
ago they went on a 3 week vacation to an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican
Republic with some friends of theirs.
The friends returned home after two weeks but Bill and Donna stayed on
for an extra week. It changed their
lives! If you knew them you’d understand
how they befriended the local Haitian woman who worked at the resort and how
they went with her to her poverty stricken sugar cane village and how they left
their hearts there and how their lives have now completely changed and how they
have helped change the lives of so many others.
Their story is complex with many exciting and frustrating twists and
turns. Bill and Donna now live in the
Dominican and run the ministry ‘Dominican Feed the Kids’ where they provide
meals for children in the village. They
have also adopted a boy who is now 3.
They saved his life as a newborn and despite all odds are now legally
adopting him. Donna’s sister and her
family came to visit the Dominican one January and 2 years later went home with
a family of 6 orphans that they and their neighbours have adopted! Our family are so happy to be a monthly
sponsor of the father and 6 siblings of Bill and Donna’s adopted son. It doesn’t seem like much compared to what
Bill and Donna have sacrificed to give their lives to serve that village, but
every bit helps!
Recently Donna
wrote on the Dominican Feed the Kids facebook page: HOW DO YOU HEAL A
BROKEN HEART Today
my heart is heavy, I thought I had got past the point of shedding tears
for my babies in the village but today my heart was broken and I do not
know how to fix this one, God will have to look after her. You have heard me
speak of the little girl ChiChi who was abandoned and lives in the village with
another family who cannot afford to give her any more than roof over her head. I had not seen her coming down to eat for
a few days so I ask one of the guys who help us if he could find her for me
today....He did....he said she has no where to live any more, the family cannot
afford to feed her so many days she goes without any food at all, only on the
days we are there and someone reminds her to come down to eat, does she get a
decent meal. and so she eats three times a week...I sat and held her and cried,
what do we do for this poor baby (4 yrs old) who has no one in the world, We have talked of trying to find someone to adopt her
but we need to find a family member who can sign papers or someone who is
willing to declare her an abandoned child, at this point we have found neither,
strictly because she lives with another family.....this is the hardest
situation to find a solution for....we can look for a sponsor but it would have
to be a full family sponsor because the food would go to the house, where there
are 6 other hungry mouths waiting to be fed as well so again she becomes # 7
who will get fed when and if there are leftovers....this is the kind of situation
that makes me want to take them all home and just feed and love them...the sadness
in her eyes and the lifelessness in her body when I sit and hold her tears the
heart out of me and I can nothing but eventually let her go and watch through
the tears as she walks away by herself up the path through the village to
.........
Please check out
their website for more information on how you can help in the Dominican. It’s www.dominicanfeedthekids.com
Lastly I
want to tell you a story about a friend of ours who was distraught about her
marriage. She writes powerful words of healing and challenge on her blog. This is what she wrote: Several years ago I faced a
gut-wrenching crisis in my life. From where I am now, I understand the
underlying issues, but then, as now, I was responsible for some terrible
decisions that brought devastating pain to those around me. The
journey of repairing and rebuilding was difficult beyond measure at
times. Today I savor the health and healing that the journey has brought
me. But there were DARK days. I
wanted to die. I was angry with God because I wanted to stop breathing, I
just wanted to STOP. And He wouldn’t let me. I desperately wanted
to melt away into the darkness of the night, to disappear from life, to be no
more. Yet every morning the sun rose … every day it rose to shine light
on the pain. It is a curious thing how
we respond to pain. Perhaps it is the revelation of this dynamic
more than anything else that has shaped how I live my life now. I lost
relationships – many for reasons I understood, and some I didn’t. I
understood the judgments of me, but as people withdrew from relationship
something in me died. It confirmed that I was not worthy of time or
relationship. It confirmed that I was lacking in value and undeserving of
love. It devoured any sense of hope. In
the midst of this darkness – there was light. My father-in-law was light
for me. Every Saturday he would visit me at my flower shop. He
would show interest in my latest arrangements, have a short conversation, then
he would remind me by SAYING THE WORDS of how much he and my mother-in-law
loved me, and valued me. Then he would hug me. Even now, after my
darkness is gone – I am moved to great emotion because of that tender gentle
gift of love he gave me every week. His
actions turned the tide of my pain. His words were MERCY, and his hugs
were GRACE. He looked past my mistakes and created a moment in my life
where I felt valued and worthy of being loved. Ultimately it opened a
door of hope for me to receive forgiveness and healing. The actions of my
father-in-law were the touch of God’s love in my life when I needed it most.
And I am forever grateful! So this is my
question today – who in my life needs to feel that tender gentle gift of
love? Who is undeserving – and yet desperately needs to know that they
have VALUE and WORTH? Who is lost in the darkness and needs to be touched
by mercy and grace today? Someone needs
the gift I have to give.
Her father-in-law
was God’s hands and feet to her in a very simple, powerful way. We don’t need to speak to thousands. We don’t need to sell everything we have and
serve in a sugar cane village. Those are
amazing ministries and ones that God has definitely called Nick and Bill and
Donna to do. What we need to do is just
be willing to move, to go, to get up, go out, give, help, serve, say a kind
word, show love. Sometimes we don’t even
have to leave the house to do this – we can just look at the loved one sitting
beside us or in the other room, and just show them love.
Let me leave you
with another challenging blog post by my friend:
Whether I live with INTENTION, or without direction –
what I do impacts the world around me. There is always an energy I pass on. I
can be disengaged and disinterested, or I can be engaged and involved. Whatever
I choose, I leave a footprint. In our fast paced, driven world we talk about
“reducing our carbon footprint.” We invest in reducing the impact that our
energy use has on the environment. But I WANT to leave a footprint in my world!
I want to invest in changed lives and MIRACLES. I want the footprint of my
presence to make a difference in the world that I interact with today. If you
already practice acts of kindness and gratitude – remember the potential energy
that you are releasing in the lives of those you touch. Perhaps your smile or
kind words will remind a tired mom to tell her child “I love you”, or remind a
stressed father to hug his wife extra tight tonight. The “action” doesn’t end
with the action – each moment we engage in is like a compressed spring
releasing its energy to the world. I have a million steps to make in my life. I
may not leave my footprint on the moon – but I can leave an impression of LOVE
and PEACE and HOPE on the hearts I touch today.
BE the change you wish to see in the world … -Gandhi What footprints are you leaving today?
Then I gave each
of the ladies a baby sock. I told them
to put it in their handbag or wherever else they may see it to remind them to
be the hands and feet of Jesus to those around them. And then we watched the
following music video that I put together.
There are pictures in it of Nick and also of my friends Bill and Donna
in the Dominican. Take time to reflect
on the images and ask God how you can reach out to help others this holiday
season and in the New Year.
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