What Is That In Your Hand?

Last year a close friend invited me to accompany her to a church service that I don’t normally attend. Mike Pilavachi was speaking. I’d never heard of him before but he is a co-founder of Soul Survivor  and apparently he’s very well known in evangelical circles in the UK.

The theme of his message was “What is that in your hand?”

He based his message on the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand in the gospel of John 6:5-13

A large crowd of people had come to hear Jesus speak. After a while, the people were hungry, but there was nothing with which to feed them.

 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” John 6:9 (NKJV):

This boy handed over his lunch to Jesus, who gave thanks, then multiplied it and used it to feed the huge crowd.

Mike Pilavachi’s point, was that what we have to offer to God may not seem like very much, but when we place it in God’s hands, He can multiply it and use it to bring blessing to others.

Mike’s challenge to each of us that evening was “What is that in your hand?” I’ve often thought about that challenge since. To be honest, my answer a lot of the time is ‘Grief, that’s what’s in my hand………….deep, relentless, grief.’

There’s something else in my hand too – a pen! One of the ways in which I cope with my journey through grief is by journaling and blogging about what helps and what doesn’t help. It doesn’t seem like very much to me but I’m sure that the little boy in John 6:9 didn’t think that his five barley loaves and two small fish was very much either.

The biblical principle here however is that when it’s placed in God’s hands little can become much. Earlier this year I was contacted by one of the children’s cancer charities who have provided our family with very valuable support both while Leah was alive and even more so since she died. They asked if they could use excerpts from my personal blog in their promotional and fundraising literature. Of course I said yes. Today I was contacted to ask if excerpts from my writings could be used in one of their funding applications, again I said yes. I feel both humbled and honoured that I am able in some way to ‘give back’ to this fantastic charity that has given us so much.

My question for you today is ‘What is that in your hand?’