What’s in Your Hand?

Fear is a weapon of paralysis.

As recorded in Exodus chapter four, God called Moses to lead Israel’s children out of bondage, and his experience is a classic example of using what one has. When God called Moses to be His spokesman in Pharaoh’s court, he felt utterly empty-handed and unequipped physically. I can imagine his confusion and fear of inadequacy, both socially and politically. But God, who can fight any battle with the flimsiest of things, reminded him that even the rod in his hand would be a tool by which wonders would happen. Like Moses, I knew I was no match for the plethora of challenges facing me while raising my children in a fast-paced city without a commensurate source of income. I had no paid job, so I resorted to selling secondhand clothing —a situation in which I was often overcome by fear and shame. One evening, I realized that if God didn’t perform a miracle, the children would have no food for lunch to take to school the next day.

It was sobering to look at them and not meet their most essential physical need —food! My husband was struggling to make ends meet in another city, and I had our old worn-out car. Suddenly, a thought flashed in my mind, Use your parked car as a taxi. I had never done taxi driving before; moreover, the environment was a very crazy and chaotic one for an old car, which might easily give out on me. Undaunted, I prayed and asked God for His protection. With my teenage brother-in-law acting as my conductor and bodyguard, we set off from Okoba village to Ikeja, Lagos, and did not return home till after midnight, having made just enough for the next day, N50.00 —less than US$1.00! This was a fair achievement. God protected us and the car from the rough roads and the insanity that floated all around us. He used an old worn-out, overlooked tool in my possession to perform a miracle of providing food for my six-member household.

Sometimes we do not realize the value of what we have in our hands until we are in a gravely trying situation. Indeed, “the angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7, KJV).

Ekele P. Ukegbu-Nwankwo