Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Grasp My Hand, Take Hold of My Heart




May 9th

“So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.” Mark 1:31

After leaving the synagogue one day Jesus entered the house of Simon along with Andrew, James and John. There He finds Simon’s mother-in-law sick with a bad fever. Setting all other business aside temporarily, He went to her side where He took her hand and helped her up. Wham bang! The fever was gone and she was up waiting on them in no time.

It wasn’t the only healing Jesus did, of course, but if you really look at each one they all have own distinctiveness. What was unique about this one is reading how He took her hand, helped her up, healed her, and then instantly it was her lending the helping hand serving Jesus and the others.

It reminds me of what Jesus did for me in my own temporary illness that lasted over 12 years. Sick not with a fever but epilepsy there were many times He took my hand and helped me back on my feet. I may not have been cured but He was there just the same by my side. Soon I found something embedding itself into my heart as being very special to me. It was the fact that for every seizure I had, whenever I came out of it there was someone there at my side holding on to my hand, helping me in some way.

Just having them there putting their hand on my knee, arm, or hand waiting for me to come out of my seizure making sure I didn’t hurt myself meant a lot to me. It was Jesus working through them to grasp on to a young woman left alone to deal with her illness in the bed life had made for her.

Eventually a cure would come for me but not before Jesus had helped me in other ways. Teaching me spiritual awareness, the importance of forgiveness, the ability to lean on God instead of pulling away from Him in dealing with life. Plus what it means to have faith in Him, trusting Him with the plans of my life instead of always standing close by with “Plan B” ready to hand it Him as if He needed it.

Whether stricken with a fever, epilepsy, or any other illness or not Jesus is there at our side with His hand extended out willing to set aside His own agenda to be there. Unfortunately when He arrives He finds our hand or hearts clamped tightly shut unwilling to do our part in reaching out to Him. Because we don’t feel like we are “immediately helped” or see “instant” results we assume He was never there in the first place. True spiritual blindness on our part as we wrap our hands around something we shouldn’t and hold on to it as if it was the truth.

CLOSING THOUGHT: The truth is we need to learn a lesson from Simon’s mother-in-law who the minute she was able to get up went to serving the Lord and the others in the room. Instead of taking her cure and run with it she stayed to serve the Lord in her new found health. Cured or not, in perfect health or not we need to be willing to get up from whatever bed life has made for us and serve the Lord. Giving up our desire to bargain with Jesus telling Him, “If you cure me I’ll serve you.”


No, the time to allow Christ to grasp on to our hand and take hold of our heart is now. We can’t wait till life has us down. We need to be checking for fingerprints. Is the thumb that has us pinned down and preventing us from allowing God to work in our lives attached to our own hand, attitude, or stubbornness? Hopefully not, but if it is we need to allow that to be the first cure as we reach out with an open hand and heart saying, “Grasp my hand Jesus, take hold of my heart,” leaving the conditions of our cure up to Him.

Our host this week is Christelle over at Beloved Mama. Get on over there and see and share with others about today’s story.

10 comments:

Amico Dio said...

Great post! He most certainly uses all things for good, even illness. He is awesome, isn't He?

Susan said...

Oh Karen,

This was so GOOD! I'm so glad you shared this amazing testimony of God's faithfulness in your life.

Yes, those loving, awesome hands, always there to help us get up!

Blessings to you♥

twinklemom said...

Wow. That was just an encouraging and powerful testimony of God's work in your life! Praise God.

Kim@Seasons of My Heart said...

Karen~
What a great post.

I'm SO thankful...that his hands are ALWAYS there.

Kim~

Denise said...

Such an inspiring post, bless you.

Lakeville Vertical said...

What an awesome post. Your sharing was such a testimony to God's power! Thanks for serving HIM!

Anonymous said...

Beautifully said! Thank you for sharing your personal story!

Bonnie W said...

Karen, I really liked your illustration with the cartoon. It drives home the point so well.
Great post.

Andrea said...

That was wonderful! Your post humbled and encouraged me.

~Andrea
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/andijeane/531863/

Anonymous said...

I was about to take up a love offering for a second. I thought I was in church. LOL! Wonderful and ministering post. It truly blessed me! So true! Thank you for sharing.