An Open Hand

This poem was written in April of 1988.  We moved from Illinois to Indiana in June of 1988 with our three children, ages 10, 13, and 15 .  We had no jobs.  We had a house we would rent from Luke’s parents.  And we had a plan to take our family on a three week vacation across the country in a mini van, pulling a pop-up camper shortly after we got settled. 

After that amazing trip, Luke would take classes at the Christian College in the town we moved to, we would both work full time, and our children would start three new schools and make new friends.   

Kind of crazy, but what an adventure!   

All we really had was a firm belief that God had prompted this adventure.

I believed, but my mama heart was full of doubts and fears.  So I did what I do.  I wrote.  

This poem was, and still is, a faith building and claiming endeavor.  

We look back at that time in our adventure together, and say emphatically, yes!  

God can be trusted!

An Open Hand

I come to you, Lord, with an open hand

Not knowing if I understand 

But with the simple truth I want to stay

Just to hear You, Lord, and then obey.

Most are born with a tight closed fist

As babes it’s for our own way we insist

We learn as we grow, it’s things hold our cares

We keep what is our’s and envy what’s their’s.

We think we’ve grown up when we are tall

But in Your eyes we’ve changed nothing at all

We plan and we scheme how we can get more

And we judge our importance by what we’ve in store.

Our hopes are based on what we desire

And our nerves are as tight as a tight rope wire

For when our life’s story is placed on the shelf

The worst failure of all, would be failure of self.

True joy is attained through one way, I’ve decided

To keep nothing from You and nothing divided

My ownership’s false and nothing is mine

What’s given, what’s taken is by decisions divine.

My hand is now open, and I’m feeling free

My money, my talent, my body I’ll see

You take or You add to as You would be blessed

My joy will be great, and I’ll live life the best.

I come to You, Lord, with an open hand

My life is a sacrifice to work Your command

While my hand is open, I have nothing to grip

But into hands that are open, a purpose You’ll slip.

Our trip across the country was not without it’s challenges.  Out of the 21 days of travel we stayed in our camper 7 nights, in a motel 7 nights, and with friends or family 7 nights.  I called the camper our giant suitcase we pulled behind the mini van.  We had a flat tire.  The tire had to be fixed.  And then there was the time Luke was seriously considering abandoning the camper by the side of the road.  The hitch broke on a California highway on a Sunday.  Through a simple question from a sweet Mexican lady in a gas station bathroom…”how is your day going?”…God sent us her husband who just happened to be a welder, who just happened to be available.  He met us in the middle of that California highway with his equipment, and he laid down on that highway with the traffic speeding by and fixed our hitch.  Then he pulled out a can of spray paint and painted his welding black so it would match the rest of the hitch.  When Luke asked what he owed him, he said, “Oh, I don’t know…$25?”  Luke gave him $75 with a handshake and a sincere ‘thank you!’  We went on our way praising God and giving Him the glory for the way He protected us and provided for us. 

I have told that story many times over the years since, and each time my faith is renewed in a Mighty and Holy God Who cares about every detail.  Black spray paint indeed!

There were many challenges during our life in Indiana.  We lived there 29 years.  My biggest fear in 1988 was that someday our family would be separated.  I never thought we would live there forever.  And here we are 38 years later.  Four families living in four different states.  

We are not the same, but God is still the same.  He has been faithful, and He has taught us what it truly means to have ‘an open hand.’  My faith was strong back in 1988, but it does not compare to what God has grown it into over 38 years.   

In Romans 10:17 we read, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word about Christ.”

In Dr. David Jeremiah’s book, Agents of Babylon, he states, “Faith is a commitment to God’s omnipotence, not the outcome.”  Dr. Jeremiah was referring to the story of when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s pit because he continued to pray to the One True God when it was a law to only pray to the king.  

In the same book of Daniel in God’s Book, the Bible, there is also the story of the three men who were also slaves of Babylon who were thrown into the fiery furnace because they would not bow down to any other god.  Whoever says the Bible is boring has not read the Book of Daniel!  

Standing before a furious king, they declared, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, oh king.  But if not, let it be known to you, oh king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”  When the king looked into the furnace after throwing them in, he saw four men, not three!  And they were walking around, unhurt!  The form of the fourth “was like the Son of God!”  Jesus was there with them!

Why can we live with an open hand of faith?  Because God is with us, and God has a plan for our lives.   He is with us in the challenges.  He is with us in every moment.

Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  

Even our faith is a gift from God!  

May we walk through every ‘fiery furnace’ with an open hand of faith, trusting in God’s omnipotence, His specific plan for each one of us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.