~Open Hands~

How many times do we think "I NEED _____"; now you fill in the blank.  Particularly when my children were young, there were many things I THOUGHT I needed.  One of the biggest things was, "a break".  Having 4 children in 5 years, "a break" was quite scarce.  I felt this "need" the strongest when my husband would come home after a business trip.  Sometimes I felt like my brain was going to burst from all of the decisions I had made while he was gone; usually they were decisions in regards to settling conflicts between the little ones.  It seemed like the disputes were endless when Daddy was gone.  Consequently, I couldn't wait for "a break".

However, I noticed a pattern start to develop.  When I communicated strongly (i.e. demanded) that I NEEDED a break, I found that it was never long enough.  I would come home almost more frustrated than when I left.  I really began praying for wisdom from the Lord.  My prayer would be something like, "Lord, You KNOW that I NEED a break, why are you not giving me rest?"  The answer came through Elisabeth Elliot and Scripture.  Through her books and talks I learned the principle of going to the Lord with "Open Hands".

The principle is this:  The Lord of the Universe knows PERFECTLY what I TRULY need.  So, I would go to Him and communicate what I thought I needed and my prayer was lifted up to Him with "open hands", meaning, if HE thought I needed a break and He gave it to me, I would receive it and be thankful.  However, if He did not bring the break to me, then I trusted Him and still thanked Him for listening and providing what was best or withholding what was best  from me.  The key was trusting God with my every "need" by lifting up my prayer request to Him and bringing my hands back down empty, with no expectations of my own.  I always pictured it like I was putting something in God's lap and walking away without it.  What I discovered was, when I called out to Him for a break and He brought it (which He did MANY times!), I found the break to be sufficient, to be all that I needed and I came home rested.

This principle applies to every area of our lives.  I shared in a previous blog post "Struggling Mother" about how I thought I "needed" a friend, but the Lord had me wait several years before He brought one.  This principle also applies to raising our children.  We can go to the Lord with "open hands", asking God for His will to be done in a particular situation or struggle with our children.  We can place our requests in His lap, then get up off our knees walking in peace, knowing God heard and trusting that we have given the Lord our problems and concerns and that He will take care of it His way.  He is ready, willing and able to handle every detail of our lives.

" I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God..."  (Psa 40:1-3a)