Lift up the withered hand

Thank you for continuing to pray for us. I want you to know that I have had "the peace that transcends understanding" and it is because of your prayers. Things are very scary right now, but I just have this peace that God is moving and working out His plan, and it is going to be good!!!! We also have seen such evidence of His help, that it is impossible not to trust Him. We found out about a great job through a precious friend, Michelle. Billy emailed his resume and the lady (who owns a placement agency), called him right away, and asked him to come in the next day. He met with her Wednesday, and she was very impressed with his resume. He needed that encouragment! She said that there would be a lot of interviews for this particular job, and the next person in line was out of town until this week - so we are hoping to hear back from them for another interview. Please pray alongside us, for that job. However, even if this job does not work out - he had a great meeting with her and maybe she can place him in another! Also, about a month ago, Billy met a man for lunch who had interest in purchasing Senior Living real estate. Turns out he sits on a board with Pike, our pastor. When they figured out the connection, this man told Pike how impressed he was with Billy after meeting with him. So Pike called him last week, and let him know that Billy was now looking for a new job in case he had work for him. Turns out he does. They met last week for lunch, and he has some contract projects that Billy can do for him while he continues to look for a full time job. Obviously, we need Billy to quickly get a full time job - but we can see God encouraging us, and we want to give Him glory!
I came across two scriptures that encourage me as I lift up my "withered hand" for all to see. It is difficult to be in a place of need - and for everyone to know it. It is so tempting to just fake it, and act like everything is great - and I am fine, but healing and ministry do not happen when we fake it, now do they?
The first verse is when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Jesus sees this man with a withered hand, and He says to him,
"Lift up your hand" Luke 6:10 "so the man held out his hand, and it was restored" 6:11
Isn't that something? All He asked of the man, was that he lift up his withered hand. Don't you bet that man had spent a lifetime hiding that hand? Training himself to use his good hand and keep the withered hand out of of sight, lest people be disgusted or worse yet, judge him. But that is all Jesus required, that he lift it up to Him, and He healed the infirmity. He did not require a certain amount of faith, or tell him to pray harder about that hand. He just said - lift it up to me and I will heal it. Lift up those withered hands to Jesus, and He will redeem them. There is great blessing in the withered offerings.
The inspired writer of Hebrews says this
"Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees. And make straight the paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but rather - let it be healed." Hebrews 12:12-13
"be turned away" is "disloacted" or "fallen" in other translations. In other words, we can lift up our withered hands and feeble knees for healing by Jesus, or we can continue to hide them and they will stay useless. I choose healing. I choose to lift high my withered hands, and I am excited to see what God will accomplish through my weakness.