Chapped Hands

For many, when the COVID-19 crisis is over, toilet paper will be the remembered symbol of the weeks of quarantine...or the lack of it. For others, it will be the experience of spending 24/7 with their school-aged kids. I have a feeling that there's enough left to come that we may have other shared experiences that will represent coronavirus more unpleasantly.

For me, at least for now, it's chapped hands.

I ventured out yesterday to pick up an antibiotic prescription and get some groceries (since I was already at the store). I took along my own disinfectant wipes for the cart and other surfaces I would need to touch. By the time I came home, two of my knuckles were bleeding from the alcohol in the wipes.

My teenager said to me this morning, "Why do my hands hurt so bad?" I looked. Her hands were as red and chapped as mine! I checked the boys' hands, and they, too, were suffering. Our hand-washing routine now has an added step: Put lotion on!

Thankfully, chapped hands aren't very debilitating. Not too scary. Not too difficult to deal with.

That's not true with much of what we're seeing happen around the world and around our country. The numbers keep climbing. The restrictions keep growing. The shadows of Italy's humanitarian disaster just keep falling longer and longer on the USA.

And there's not much these hands can do to help, to change, to stop what's happening. It might feel hopeless...

But it's not!

These hands can do a lot! Romans 12:12b tells us to "Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying." Philippians 4:6 says, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."

When you get anxious, pray for peace.

When you get worried, pray for understanding.

When you get bored, pray for those suffering around the world.

When you get exhausted, pray for strength.

When you hurt, pray for relief.

There is always hope! God is good. He is mighty. He is loving. He is sovereign. Put those chapped hands together and ask Him to help you through. Ask others to pray for/with you. Ask me!! What better thing is there to put our extra time into?

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. 
Romans 15:13