Be the Hands and Feet of Jesus!

Be the hands and feet of Jesus!

“No man is an island.” ~ John Donne

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you…For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink…when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” Matthew 25:34-40.

Jesus has always called us to reach to the “least of these”, to serve the needs of others as He did.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” John 14:12.

One of the greatest examples of the apostles being the Hands and Feet of Jesus in the early Church is found in the third chapter of the Book of Acts. Peter and John were on their way to the Temple to pray like they did every day at around three o’clock. There was a man who was lame from birth being carried in. Every day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one they called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple.

When the lame man saw Peter and John, he asked them for money too, but Peter said, “Look at us! I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene, get up and walk!” Acts 3:4-6 NLT.

According to the Word, and the Name of Jesus, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed! He jumped up and began to walk and the Bible said he went “…walking, leaping and praising God…into the Temple with them.” Acts 3:8 NLT.

Peter and John were being the Hands and Feet of Jesus. Jesus had already ascended into Heaven. He had told the disciples to wait for the Promise of the Father, the Comforter, which He would send. And He did. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 2.

And The Church is born.

We are the continuance of the Early Church; we are the 29th chapter of Acts!

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And the only way we can continue to write that 29^th chapter is to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 NIV.

Jesus entrusted us to be the Light when He left us in charge of things here on this earth. Here we find ourselves in the Endtime. It doesn’t take a scholar or a theologian to realize that things are winding down. Jesus is coming back for His Church, His Bride! But that doesn’t mean that we are to sit back and just wait for Him to catch us away. We are to be about our Father’s business. We must be the Hands and Feet of Jesus.

We are responsible to reach out as much as we possibly can, to touch as many as we can with the Good News that Jesus is alive and lives to give eternal life to all who want to partake of it.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’” Romans 10:14, 15 NKJV.

The story is told of a small town in Italy that had a beautiful statue of Jesus in its town square. One day there came a horrific hurricane that devastated the city. The statue was toppled and when the clean-up crew finally came around they found that the statue was mostly intact except that the hands and feet were missing and crushed beyond repair.

It was finally decided to erect the statue back to its original place and a plaque was put up that said, “Jesus has no hands and feet except yours…”

Those words are true for us today. We are His hands and feet in this world. The Sweetheart says this so often in his sermons, “He didn’t save us just to save us. We are here for a bigger purpose. He saved us to reach others.” He means that after salvation we aren’t just to sit down and fold our hands and wait for Heaven. Jesus told us to go into all the world and share this truth; we have a responsibility!

Let us do all we can today to reach our world with the Good News, the Gospel that Jesus Saves!

Vintage toddler rocking chair makeover!

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Many of you have followed along with our miracle story of Baby Norah. She is set to arrive with fanfare on April 2, unless she decides to be fashionably late or surprisingly early. Either way, we are ready. You can read the God-story here.

But long before there was a Norah, or even Mommy Rachel, for our family and the last 34 years, there has been Norah’s soon-to-be Daddy, Kyle. He was our first of My Three Sons, the first grandchild on my side of the family and probably a little spoiled, which is okay, right?

Kyle’s first Christmas, 1981, his paternal grandparents bought him and his best-friend-for-life-and-cousin, Jeremy, the cutest little rockers that were just their size. Shockingly, it is one of the few things I have kept over the years and even more shocking, Kyle didn’t remember it.

Fast forward from 1981 to 2016! Norah Jayne’s baby shower was fast approaching. I had crocheted her a cotton blanket, ordered her a handmade crib mobile from Etsy, bought stencils for her nursery wall and Poppy even made her a blanket ladder…not to mention the outfits we have not been able to resist. But I just didn’t have that personal item that I wanted to give.

And then I remembered the chair.

Trust me when I say I am not a DIY regular. We used to operate our own Etsy store a few years ago where we made Pottery Barn style cubby shelves and shipped them worldwide. But again, that’s been a few years ago and this was a little more detailed.

Perusing Pinterest, there are so many cute makeovers that it wasn’t long before I could envision what I wanted to do for Norah’s.

The nursery is soft cream’s, pink and green so the chair had to match! I started out by sanding down the entire rocker and then applying a primer. After that, it was on to three coats of a creamy white. Then I began to add in some pink on the sides and the top.

I wanted a chevron pattern on the seat, which was a little more difficult, and not quite as defined, since the slats in the chair were further apart. The Sweetheart, a.k.a. Poppy, bought me some Frog Tape, someone somewhere is a genius for inventing this! It was simple to line up the tape on the seat and then I just painted over it all with the light pink. You then remove the tape while the paint is still wet and the lines were crisp and clean! (You can see the yellow tape underneath the paint here.)

After that, I decided to add in some green stripes to the sides with regular painter’s tape. It was a little more difficult to remove and to place it perfectly straight. Actually, it just about drove me crazy! Wrapping the tape around and then trying to remove it without touching anything else was a nightmare for me but with a little touch-up you would never know I had so much trouble.

For the final touch, I wanted to personalize it and wished I could have painted her entire name across the back of the chair (and I did try!) but it just wasn’t working out so I went with a wooden letter N for Norah, painted it the matching green and then set to attaching it to the chair. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to stay with super glue, hot glue or Gorilla Glue! Poppy finally had to get a small screw and attach it. Now she won’t be so likely to pull it off either.

Ready for the reveal?

And here it is in Norah Jayne’s nursery…

Here is Rachel at her shower on Saturday…such a great day!

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Gathering the Scattered

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Gather. Such a funny word when you look at it and say it over and over again. Every time I hear it spoken out loud I envision the one saying it with their arms stretched out and then pulling everyone, and everything, in to them.

Gather. Come together, assemble or accumulate. Here is another version which just makes me smile:

Bring together and take in from scattered places.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Matthew 12:30.

In our Revival By Design teaching around the country, we encourage others to become Gatherers. Some might be teachers, some leaders over a larger group; some are helpers, pastors, etc. But EVERYONE is a Gatherer!

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Isaiah 40:11.

A Gatherer is someone who is bringing together and taking in from scattered places. Reaching for the lost, the outcast, the down and out and yes, even the lowly. Jesus was the ultimate Gatherer. He said if we didn’t gather with Him then we were scattering. What does that mean?

To cause to separate and go in different directions.

If you aren’t gathering then you are scattering.

“As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.” Ezekiel 34:12.

Jesus went after the scattered flock. He looked for those that had been cast aside or forgotten about. He rescued them and gathered them back into the sheepfold!

In these last days, let us turn our focus to gathering. We must be peacemakers in difficult situations. We need to reach a helping hand to those that have hit rock bottom. And we must be willing to open our hearts and open our arms to all of those that need Jesus. The only view they may have of HIM is you and me.

Do they see us as a Gatherer; ready to take in those that are hungry for a life change? Or do they see us as a Scatterer; one that causes confusion and division in the Body of Christ?

Praying today that I would have the mind and heart of a shepherd who is constantly caring for his flock and desperate to go after any that have scattered.

I took this picture of The Sweetheart in the country of Estonia at a beautiful outdoor museum. Everyone a Shepherd, everyone a Gatherer!

Blessings, friends. Feel free to comment on your take on gathering and scattering. I would love to hear!

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