Tag: #brokenness

Courage to Stretch Out Your Hand

Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. — Matthew 12:13 (NIV)

This story is often drawn to the debate about whether Jesus should heal on the Sabbath. However, I want to redirect it to the man with the withered hand. Jesus saw him, and He knew the Pharisees wanted to plot against Him, but He still told the man to stretch out his withered hand, and completely restored the hand, so that it is as sound as the other.

We all have our Withered Hand

We may not have withered hands physically, but we have our emotional trauma, which is easier to hide. It could be old hurts that never healed, painful disappointments, broken relationship, buried dream, shame that we have carried for years, a longing that has dried up. For most of us, it is well hidden. Except, God knows.

Jesus Asks for Our Brokenness

Jesus asked the man to stretch out his withered hands, exposing the very thing he is hiding and ashamed of. Yet, it is in obeying Jesus that healing and restoration can begin.

Jesus invites us to do the same, not because He doesn’t already know our pain, but because healing begins when we place our brokenness into His hands.

Restoration is God’s Desire

In front of the Pharisees, Jesus restored the man’s withered hand.

Jesus desires to restore our brokenness, remove our shame and make us whole again. Sometimes the restoration is immediate. Other times, it unfolds over time. But it begins with the courage to stretch out to Jesus what we have been hiding. It begins with obedience and trust in God.

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: have the courage to stretch out what are hidden in your heart to Jesus – your sadness, grief, disappointments, fear, anxiety, buried dreams, shame and guilt. May He bring healing and restoration to you, and make you whole.

Restoration: From Pain to Purpose

The story of the Samaritan woman at the well is one of the most powerful encounters of restoration in the Bible. She came to the well carrying shame, rejection and emptiness – but she left restored, renewed and transformed.

Jesus Meets Us in Our Brokenness

The Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water at noon, the hottest part of the day, likely to avoid other townspeople. She carried the weight of failed relationships and the label of an outcast. Yet, Jesus approached her at the well, on purpose. Similarly, Jesus meets us in our brokenness, with compassion.

Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” – John 4: 6-7

Jesus Replaces Shame with Living Water

Even though Jesus asked her for a drink, He in turn offered her the Living Water to satisfy her deepest thirst.

But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:14

Then Jesus revealed her dark past, without judgment. He wasn’t there to shame her, He was there to transform her life.

“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” – John 4: 17-18

Restoration Turns Pain into Purpose

The woman ran back to town and boldly told the people about Jesus! The very thing that once shamed her – became the testimony that drew others to Jesus. When God restores us, He doesn’t just heal us – He gives us a mission.

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” – John 4:28-29

My Invitation

This is my invitation to you today: meet Jesus where you are, in your brokenness – and let Him turn your place of shame into a fountain of hope – from your pain to your purpose.