LIFTING UP OUR HANDS IN VICTORY
Last week I talked about
Moses lifting up his hands while Joshua fought the enemy below. God told him
that he was to lift up his hands for victory even before the physical battle
began. That reminded of another Preach letter I wrote in 2021. Here it is.
Enjoy 😊
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. His first direction to me was to look at the story of Ruth in the
Bible. 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 their level of the stress hormone of cortisol went
down 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. At least, I knew I’d have a better
attitude, and I’d start with my hands lifted in victory.
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.” We can do it, and we are victorious!
I finished the sample; it
was approved and now decorates the outer walls of a major hotel in Southern
California.
That was the past and now
it’s time once again to employ this 2-minute victory pose to some new
situations. I hope you will try this out too. The victories we see in our own
lives will help us to teach a victorious life to others as well.
Love, Carolyn
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