Beautiful Hands with Guest Courtney Joseph

REMINDER: Tomorrow is a swap and share Friday! Get your best “company” recipe ready, either as a blog post if you are a blogger or typed out and ready to share here if you’re not. We will have a link-up party for the bloggers and others will list their’s in the comments section. It can be a main or side dish, a dessert or finger food. Anything Yummy!

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In chapter two of the book I talk about biblical examples of hospitality: Abigail, Lydia, Dorcas, Boaz, Sarah and Abraham.  They all used what God had given them to reach out to others.

What has he given you?

Hands.

We’ll hear about our hands from today’s guest, my friend Courtney Joseph.

Courtney blogs at WomenLivingWell.org on the topics of faith, marriage, parenting, and homemaking. She has been married to her high school sweetheart for 14 years. She homeschools her son and daughter and is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute.

In November 2009, she was featured on the Rachael Ray show on the topic of marriage. Her passion to see “women live well” inspired her in 2010 to start a second blog called GoodMorningGirls.org. There women gather together to dig into their Bibles daily through tech accountability groups and on-line Bible studies.

From her heart:

P.S. Your Hands are Beautiful

The Proverbs 31 Woman has always dazzled me with her amazing ability to do it all!  In the first few verses of Proverbs 31, we learn that this woman is a description of the type of woman King Lemuel’s mother would like her son to marry.

The Proverbs 31 woman rises early, works eagerly, shops wisely, is extremely productive and she uses her evenings to get work done too!

Then, in Proverbs 31:20, there is a feature of this beautiful woman pointed out for the first time – it’s “her hands”.

 “She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy.” Proverbs 31:20 NKJV

 Previously in the chapter, her hands have been furiously working sewing, planting, cooking and shopping. And here they take center stage as she reaches out to those outside of her home with them.

Look down and examine your hands. Are they young or old? soft or calloused? sun spotted? Do your veins show? Do you think your hands are beautiful?

Often our hands are one of the first places to show our age – they have worked hard serving our husbands, children, and the needy. What a blessing it is to have two hands!

My sister Jennifer, once shared this story with me – (these are her words):

P.S. Your Hands Are Beautiful.”

This was what my in-laws wrote inside my birthday card at the end of their very nice note to me.

A few weeks before my birthday, I was at a family get-together, and something came up about “hands”. I’m not sure how exactly the conversation went, but I know that I made the comment that the one place I have started to see my body aging is in my hands.

When I look down at them, which I realized is frequently during the day, they have begun to look different, older to me.

My mother-in-law said that the one thing she remembered about her own mother was her beautiful hands. I remembered her sharing about this before, and I believe that she meant more than just the outside beauty of beautiful skin with perfectly groomed nails.

Those who had the privilege of knowing her mother, know that her life was one of active service to our Lord and that she did have beautiful hands because they did beautiful things for His glory.

When I read my birthday card with the message, “P.S. Your hands are beautiful”, the full meaning of that small statement touched me.

It reminded me of what Paul said to the church at Thessalonica. I Thessalonians 4:11 says, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.”

These verses should cause us to look at the work that we do as women and ask ourselves, am I working faithfully with my hands in my daily life?

Is my work winning the respect of outsiders?

Am I bringing glory to my Lord with the works of my hands?

Would God think that my hands are beautiful?”

Now……look down and examine your hands now a second time with a new perspective. Do not judge the beauty of your hands by the outside – but rather by lives they have touched.

Walk with the King!

Courtney

 Ps. Your hands are beautiful!

(This post is an excerpt from Courtney’s FREE eBook titled “The Proverbs 31 Woman – One Virtue at a Time.”)

TODAY’S TWO GIVEAWAYS:

In this giveaway – everyone is a winner!

You are all welcome to go to Courtney’s website at www.WomenLivingWell.org and “Subscribe” (find this in the right sidebar)…you will receive a link to her FREE Proverbs 31 eBook at the bottom of the next article sent out via email.

AND:

One of you will receive this “Beautiful Hands” giveaway that includes:

~  Some Organic Olive Oil nail & hand salve

~ A bottle of pale, bubble-gum-pink nail polish for beautiful hands (or toes!)

~ A pair of bath gloves

~ A spring-y oven mitt

~ A Ghiradelli dark chocolate-raspberry bar

Now, to be entered in the random drawing for this giveaway, tell us something you could do with your hands in the near future to bless a family member, friend, co-worker, church member or stranger.

REMEMBER: We are also interacting over at Karen Ehman’s Book Studies on Facebook.Click here to “like” the page & join us. Starting this weekend there will be giveaways there too based on info from the book!

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