Owwww, my poor hand

Yesterday, I hurt my hand :-( bashed it on the door as entering my house! 

It hurts, its swollen and I think probably just bruised but OW 

Its my right hand! I am learning how much I rely on my right hand, last night I couldn't use a tin opener, slice a cucumber, struggled to change a nappy - basically felt very incapcitated.

It made me think though, my hand is only a small part of my body but such an important part - when it doesn't work properly then it affects everything! 

It also brought to mind this scripture 

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

What an amazing truth - we are all different, we all have different parts to play, different paths to take, some may be called to home educate, some called to play a big part in a public school, some may be called to run their own businesses, others to be a blessing as an employee - but all of us are important! No one is better than anyone else and when one suffers so do all, I believe the church is ALL the believers, not just the ones that gather in one particular building.

Lets remember to encourage and support one another, in real life, and online as we all press on towards the goal - of becoming more and more like Jesus

Today's mighty oak is just yesterdays nut that held it's ground ......
This is my current facebook status - I read it somewhere and thought that is such an awesome quote I just had to remember it.
But when you think about it there is so much encouragement you can get from that sentence - especially if like me lots of people around you think you must be "nuts" haha.

I first thought about it in regards to mothering, we are raising mighty oaks, men and women of God who will stand their ground and hold onto God's Word. At this time of year (Halloween) I am finding lots of opportunities to talk to my children about what we believe and why we don't celebrate Halloween and although at the moment they just take my word for it, I'm praying and hoping that they will decide on their own- in fact I am so proud of them at the moment, they are doing what I ask even when I'm not in the room. Let me explain, if any of you watch cbeebies there is a relatively new program called waybuloo, once I saw it and realised it involved teaching yoga I told the children that we weren't going to watch that anymore as yoga was not something good, and now I hear them telling their little 3 year old sister that we don't watch that because it's got "yoga poga" on lol.
I also told them that I would rather they watch veggie tales or some such dvd rather than normal tele and even though they were up before me they did exactly that.
It is so encouraging and rewarding and I just pray that it will continue as they grow.

We can also look at it in a more personal sense - we are the "nut" that will become the "mighty oak" - we just follow what God is leading us into and endeavour to obey what he commands then he will transform us from what we are into what He wants us to be and without even realising it we will be "mighty oaks"
How amazing and encouraging!