VICTORIOUS
HANDS LIFTED TO THE GOD OF MERCY
A few years
ago, when I was working on a special finish for a hotel in California, I had to
match an existing piece. I worked at it but it was difficult. I started to feel
the pressure and I was getting more and more fearful as the day went on. The
deadline was growing bigger than the possibility of a solution.
Finally, I had
to get both of my bosses outside to take a look at the pieces I’d done and get
some suggestions. All the suggestions included mixing more paint, starting from
scratch and going through all the steps again. Yikes!
But at least I
was going to have help. We all went our separate ways for lunch, and I took the
opportunity to pray. I prayed for Jesus to help me. I really needed Him and I
told Him so. I got the article out that I was currently editing. It’s on being
comforted under the wings of God. I needed that myself! I read it and made a
few corrections and then opened my Bible to the book of Ruth. As I was soaking
in her story, the scripture came into my head: “Lift up the hands that hang
down,” from Hebrews 12:12.
That scripture
coming to my mind was evidence to me of the love of Jesus and the mercy of God
to answer my cry for help.
I remembered a
TED talk I saw on the internet. It was about nonverbal communication, and they
did a test to show how nonverbal communication could affect a good outcome. The
challenge was to lift your hands in a show of victory. You had to keep your
hands up for two minutes. As it turned out when the people did it, their blood
levels of testosterone went up and they felt more confident.
I
decided now was the time to try it.
I went into
the restroom. I laid down my cell phone on the sink and looked at the time. I
lifted my arms above my head as if I’d just won a race and I said out loud: “I
have the victory through Jesus Christ, I have the victory through Jesus.” I
snuck a look at my phone and I’d only done it for one minute, so I stretched
out my arms a little more and said it a few more times till 2 minutes were up.
I left the restroom and doggone it if I didn’t feel more confident. I really
did! I felt invigorated and even a little carefree.
It worked! I
lifted my hands like it says in the Bible. And the experiment shown on the TED
talk showed me how to do it for two minutes straight.
When my one
boss came back from lunch, he started working on the pieces with me and we had
some good laughs as we both came up with almost the same exact colors. We took
them outside to see how they looked against the sample; they were way off! We
both looked at each other with wrinkled brows. We shrugged our shoulders and
off we went to try again.
The goofy
thing is that the piece we were looking at, appeared to have mustard color in
it when we saw it outside, and the same color appeared reddish when we had it
inside! We got out a fan deck of colors and took the piece outside to match it
up. We were sure we’d do better the next day.
As well as
lifting my hands, I prayed for God’s mercy and kindness to me. I knew He would
help me come up with a solution to our problem. “With
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy
Redeemer” (Is. 54:8).
Sometimes it’s
difficult to keep working on something that seems so hard. God knows this, and
speaks plainly to us. He says in Hebrews 12:11-12: “For the moment all
discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the
peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift
your drooping hands” (Heb. 12:11-12).
If you didn’t
get to watch the TED talk before, here’s the link. I think it’s less than 10
minutes long. Enjoy.
By the way, I
finished the sample and now it decorates the outer walls of a major hotel in
Southern California.
Love, Carolyn
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