Propping My Arms

I have been the recipient of so much kindness over the past two days that I want to cry. A good cry. A joyful cry that humanity is not hopeless. That the sun will emerge out of the stormiest storms. That selfless sacrifice for others does still exist. That God will meet us in our darkest places.

Out of the blue, a person whom I have never met, but is on the world's best Facebook site (and in fact, its founder: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cleanindiereads/) blogged about my book, and then sent me her own (much better) idea for an improved cover just because she thought it might help me. ( her blog is here: http://cleanindiereads.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-bark-of-covenant.html ) Then, a whole bunch of members of that same Facebook group shared her blog to bring attention to my book. Then a friend, Melissa, came over and spent three hours making a template for my word documents so that I would not be so frustrated working on my manuscripts. Then my sister Amy, hearing about my book signing in NYC offered to cover the cost of the plane ticket. (I will be driving, but she didn't know that...)

Then my doggie, who has been lame for three days, utterly unable to get up, finally responded to the new medicine, and walked into the room to beg for popcorn. I hadn't told anyone about my dog, but I was heartbroken to see her suffer so much, this little creature I love so desperately. If ever I needed a little outpouring of kindness, it was now.

So, my heart is full to overflowing. I know that is trite...but I just don't know how else to express how blessed I feel. A writer without words. Sad, I know.

Ebola is spreading, terrorism is rampant, unemployment is still raging...yet there are little pinpricks of light, of goodness, of hope. Don't ever think you cannot be a hand of God. I have seen His fingerprints all over the place, left by friends and strangers with no idea that they were His hands in a time of dire need.

God commanded Moses to hold up his staff, and as long as he did so, his people would prevail in the fight against their enemies. Understandably, his arms grew weary. Yet, his friends helped him hold his arms high and thus secured victory for them all. We need to be the hands of God for one another, propping our fellow sojourners' arms when the weight they carry is too much for them to bear. My arms have been propped this week, and I have seen God.

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Exodus 17:12 

But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.