What is in Your Hand?

By Amanda Martin, Romania Team member

When God told Moses to go back to Egypt, Moses protested. No one would listen to him, he said. He didn't have the right skill set, he said. Surprisingly, God didn't change His mind or apologize that He must have been thinking about someone else and forgot which desert bush to light up.No, He asked instead, “What is in your hand?”It was just a plain, old, everyday, sheepherding staff. What good was that?There have been many times where I have felt a bit like what Moses must have that moment. When God led me to go on my first mission trip, at first I couldn't get over all the things I didn't have. Experience. Courage. Money. The uncanny ability to strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger. An amazing solo singing voice or the ability to sight read a song on the piano perfectly for spur of the moment for congregational singing.But like with Moses, God didn't ask me for what I didn't have, but for what He had already "placed in my hand".So what was that exactly? For one thing, immediately after returning from that first mission trip, I started cosmetology school. So I learned how to cut, color, style, and essentially "decorate" hair. Plus, you HAVE to talk to people you don't know all the time. So I learned to ask a bunch of questions. Without me knowing it, God was beginning to put a very useful skill set in my hand to use in a lot of ways. At first look, doing hair didn't seem "spiritual" enough. It was "secular work." So I really wasn't sure if this was something that I should be doing. I mean, looking pretty was good, but people need the gospel! So was I wasting my time learning something frivolous? Shouldn't I be going to Africa [*gasp* ] or doing something big with some big Christian organization so I could make a difference? How could simply being a hairdresser actually make an impact for Christ? But the path of a hairdresser is the path which God had me take.And ever since God has been showing me what He can do with “ just a job.”For instance, in the ten years that I’ve done hair, God has led people into my path to encourage and share the gospel with that I wouldn't have run into any other way. In the context of missions trips, I have been able to help out fellow team members by lice checks and cutting gum out of hair on the rooftop of a hotel to cutting hair in a hotel lobby surrounded by paper shreds. And you would be amazed the kind of barriers that are broken down and relationships that are built simply by styling a little girl’s hair or painting her fingernails during a camp. Some of the best friendships I’ve made on teams seemed to start by simply cutting or styling the hair of a translator, team member, or member of one the churches we were helping.What may have seemed frivolous and rather insignificant before, served as a platform that I could show them in a small, tangible way God’s love and care for them. And God continues to amaze me in how He can use something so simple as a haircut to bless others both on the mission field and at home.  I wish I could have seen the look on Moses’ face as God repeatedly used that rod of his to turn the tables on the Egyptians and lead millions to freedom. Certainly he would never have dreamed that his staff would turn a river to blood, part a Sea, or bring fresh water from a rock. But, truly, none of us are so different from him. We each have been called to go out and to lead captives to freedom. (Mark 16:15, Isaiah 61:1) We each have been equipped by God with something He intends to use. (Ephesians 2:10; 4:8) It may be a rod, a pair of scissors, a camera, a hammer...whatever!God is not asking you for what ability your friend has or wanting you to be someone else. No, He is still asking, “What is in YOUR hand?”Amanda Martin is a welcome face on any GE team, most recent of which have been two trips to Romania in 2013 and 2014.  She lives in Georgia where she works at a hair salon using her talents to the glory of God.