Grace Across Borders: Biblical Lessons and Global Legends

🎧 Prefer to listen? Hear this week’s reflection below.

Hi I am Tameka and welcome to Grace Across Borders.

It’s Thursday.

This blog is already late.

I’m supposed to be preparing for class right now as I write,

But this morning, my heart was heavy.

Not necessarily sad. Just full.

I’m still recovering from surgery, lying here with plenty of other things I should probably be doing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to write this first on my phone while it is fresh in my mind.

Maybe that’s because what God placed on my heart didn’t seem concerned with my schedule.

And maybe this blog isn’t late after all. Maybe I’m writing it exactly when I needed to.

Because this morning, I keep hearing one question:

What do you have in your hand?

So class prep will have to wait a little while

But before I dive in, I want to say thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes during this season of my life. I am so grateful for all of my family and friends who have checked on me, prayed for me, and encouraged me. I am especially thankful for my husband and our children for everything they did to keep me grounded, cared for, and supported through the procedure and now through recovery.

I don’t take any of it for granted.

Thank you. ❤️

Scripture

Exodus 4:2 – “Then the LORD said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he replied.”

Before we get to the staff, let’s back up just a little.

Moses was born during a dangerous time for the Israelites in Egypt, because Pharaoh had ordered the death of Hebrew baby boys. His life was spared, and through some extraordinary series of events, he was raised in Pharaoh’s household by his own mom hired as the nanny.

Years later, after killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew, Moses fled Egypt and settled in Midian. The man who had once lived in Pharaoh’s household was now tending sheep in the wilderness.

That’s where God met him.

At the burning bush in Exodus 3, God told Moses that He had seen the suffering of His people, heard their cries, and was going to deliver them from Egypt. And then came the part Moses wasn’t expecting:

God was sending him.

Moses had questions.

Who am I to go to Pharaoh? What should I tell the Israelites? What if they don’t believe me? What if they don’t listen?

Moses could see plenty of reasons why he wasn’t equipped for what God was asking him to do.

And in the middle of that conversation, God asked a remarkably simple question:

“What is that in your hand?”

A staff.

It was an ordinary shepherd’s tool, probably something Moses carried every day without giving it much thought. God instructed him to throw it down, and it became one of the signs through which God demonstrated His power and assured Moses that He would be with him.

And that’s important, because the power was never in the staff.

The larger story makes that clear. Moses still worried about his ability to speak and even asked God to send someone else. God provided Aaron to help him, but He did not withdraw Moses’ calling.

That ordinary staff would later appear throughout Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, but it wasn’t Moses or the staff performing the miracle.

It was God working through what Moses surrendered to Him.

Maybe that’s why this question has been sitting with me differently:

What is in your hand?

Folklore

Across the world in Chinese folklore is the story of Ma Liang and the Magic Paintbrush.

Ma Liang was a poor boy who loved to draw and dreamed of becoming a painter. There was only one problem:

He couldn’t afford a paintbrush.

Still, Ma Liang drew.

He practiced wherever and however he could, using what was available to him rather than allowing what he lacked to keep him from developing his gift.

One night, Ma Liang dreamed that an old man gave him a magical paintbrush. When he awoke, the brush was there, and Ma Liang soon discovered that whatever he painted with it came to life.

But Ma Liang didn’t use the brush simply to make himself rich. He used it to help those in need, painting things that could make their lives better. And when a greedy emperor learned of the brush and wanted its power for himself, Ma Liang refused to allow his gift to become merely a tool for someone else’s greed.

The boy who once didn’t even own a paintbrush eventually found himself responsible for deciding how he would use the one placed in his hand.

Of course, there is an important difference between folklore and Scripture. Moses’ staff wasn’t magical, and the biblical story isn’t teaching us to believe in the power of objects.

Moses’ power came from God.

But this old Chinese tale gives me a beautiful picture of something I needed to remember:

Sometimes what matters isn’t everything you don’t have. Sometimes what matters is what you do with what has been placed in your hand.

Reflection

This week, that lesson became very personal.

A friend has been encouraging me for some time to make motivational videos, and I’ve had every reason in the world why I wasn’t ready.

What am I going to say that hasn’t already been said?

Maybe when I feel better.

Maybe when I have the right equipment.

Maybe when the setup looks right.

Maybe later.

Then, while recovering from surgery, with my medication kicking in and sleep calling my name, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to make the video.

Just do it.

So I did.

Then I went to sleep.

Around 3 a.m., I woke up and looked at my phone.

I was overwhelmed.

There were messages across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and other places. Family, friends, and even strangers were reaching out personally to tell me how something I said had encouraged them or met them exactly where they were.

Then yesterday, still tired and recovering, I recorded a podcast for my Genesis class.

I didn’t even have to wait an hour for the grade.

100%.

My professor wrote:

“There is nothing that I could change about this podcast.”

His response gave me the push to make the second video.

And again, people responded.

That’s when I started paying attention.

Because this wasn’t just about one video or one podcast.

A teacher once took Grace Across Borders, which began as a class assignment, saw something in it, and encouraged me to keep writing.

A friend kept encouraging me to make videos when I wasn’t convinced I had anything worth saying.

People responded when I finally did.

My professor affirmed something in my voice when I was physically at one of my lowest points.

Then today, with this blog already written and me still wondering whether this was really what I should be talking about, I joined our 11 a.m. PUSH prayer time.

And what did we spend time discussing?

Matthew 25.

A servant had been entrusted with something, but fear led him to bury it instead of using it.

At that point, I almost had to laugh.

Okay, Lord. I’m listening.

There’s a Jamaican saying I’ve known practically all my life:

“Tun yuh hand mek fashion.”

Use what you have. Work with what’s available.

Apparently, I could understand that wisdom for everybody except myself.

But I also realized my hesitation wasn’t only about equipment or timing.

There was a time when I talked openly about what God was doing in my life. If He answered a prayer, I talked about it. If He opened a door, I talked about it. I loved giving praise reports because I wanted people to know:

Look what God did!

Somewhere along the way, though, I became quieter.

I heard comments like, “You don’t have to talk about everything.”

It wasn’t one person, one comment, or one experience. I’ve talked before about other things that contributed to me losing pieces of my voice. It happened gradually.

My praise reports became safer.

Smaller.

More generic.

I never stopped seeing God move.

I just stopped talking about it the same way.

And perhaps that’s what God is doing in me right now.

I’m not simply learning how to make videos.

I’m finding my voice again.

Jesus said that people don’t light a lamp and then put it under a bowl. They put it on a stand so it can give light to the house (Matthew 5:15).

For too long, I worried about whether the people around me would understand, approve, or even want to hear what I had to say.

But maybe they’re not always the audience.

Maybe somebody I’ll never meet personally will hear something at exactly the moment they need it.

And if God gives me something to say that could encourage that person, why am I letting somebody else’s opinion decide whether I say it?

So I looked at my own hands.

I have a phone.

I have a voice.

I have a story.

I have Scripture.

I have an education.

I have experiences I didn’t ask for but survived.

I have praise reports I stopped telling.

I have a testimony.

And before you think this is only about me, look at your own hands.

What do you have?

Maybe you can cook, teach, sing, write, fix things, organize, listen, or encourage.

Maybe you’ve survived something that could help someone else survive it too.

Maybe people keep recognizing something in you that you keep brushing aside.

Maybe you’ve been praying for God to give you something while He’s been saying:

Look at what I’ve already given you.

Pay attention.

Not every gift needs to become a business.

Not every talent needs a platform.

Not every open door means you have to walk through it.

But what God has entrusted to you deserves more than being buried because you’re afraid, insecure, waiting for perfection, or worried about what somebody might say.

And as if I needed one more reminder, before I finished putting this blog together, my sister-in-law sent me information about a Seventh Day Baptist media and communications internship.

The deadline is August 31.

So apparently, I have a few more days to decide whether I’m still young enough to be somebody’s intern. 😂

I don’t know what I’ll decide.

But I noticed the door.

And then I discovered something else.

Remember the class I was worried about preparing for when I started writing this?

It’s tomorrow.

Not today.

And there I was worrying that following what was on my heart was putting me behind.

I had to smile.

I don’t know where all of this leads, but I don’t think I need to know yet.

I’m grateful that I’m finding my voice again.

And as long as God puts words in my mouth, I want the courage to say them.

So maybe the question isn’t, When will I finally have everything I need?

Maybe it’s the question God asked Moses:

“What is that in your hand?”

And once you’ve answered that, perhaps there’s one more:

What are you going to do with it?

Prayer

Let us pray.

Holy, righteous, and eternal Father God, we give You all the glory and honor that is due unto You. Thank You for being an on-time God and for never being too tired to hear from us.

Lord, You deserve to be recognized, worshiped, and adored in this space simply because of who You are.

Sometimes we look at what You’ve placed in our hands and decide it isn’t enough. Sometimes we even look at ourselves and decide we aren’t enough.

Help us to see differently.

Help us recognize the gifts, experiences, talents, testimonies, and opportunities You have entrusted to us. Give us wisdom to know how to use them and courage not to bury them because of fear or the opinions of others.

Lord, whatever You’ve placed in our hands, we surrender it back to You.

If You can use our words, use them.

If You can use our stories, use them.

If You can use even the painful chapters we would never have chosen, use them too.

And whatever comes from it, You get the glory.

Help us to stand on Your promises and step out in faith, trusting that You are able to do far more with what we surrender than we could ever do on our own.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Thank you for being here and for sharing this space with me. If this reflection spoke to you, please don’t forget to like, share, comment, and/or subscribe. And as always, feel free to share what God is placing in your hands. ❤️