THE HANDS THEMSELVES

In the back room, I listened to my sister giving piano lessons. 

I remembered the weeks before college I listened to a friend practice on the church piano while I listened in the back room.

I couldn't help but admire how she emphasized joyful lines but simplified the melancholic verses, careful to communicate the message and not draw attention to technique.

But then I wanted to cry. In my rebellion and depression--Mommy had called them my "Slough of Despond", I'd pretty much lost the good years.

Lifting up cupped hands toward the ceiling, then spreading out my fingers a little and feeling everything had slipped through them, I remember praying, "Oh God, I have little left to offer You. I've lost most of it. But if you'll have ME, you can have all of ME."

Do you remember I once blogged about an MK, Kent Penner, who authored Finding Rest, a book about Japanese kanji? Sunday afternoon, the Lord drew my eyes to another book written by another MK, Erisa Funada. She had earned her masters, had raised two little boys, and translated Instruments in the Master's Hand, for Christian counselors in Japan, and I had spoken with her several weeks before she went to Glory.

Her book cover illustration seemed to emphasize the answer God gave me in that back room. "It wasn't the things in your hands but the hands themselves I wanted, June." I sensed Him say.

Hands authored the book, Finding Rest; hands worked on the translation, Instruments in the Master's Hand; and finally, the hands offered to God--finished a semblance of the book...well, Daddy called it "Kimiko-Roy's Adventure".

Readers of this blog know a lot of stories behind the amazing work of God recounted in the book. Would you like to read what has been written?

Go to KIMIKO-ROY'S ADVENTURE.rtf on my One Drive. You will not need to create an account or register a credit card here, and the book will not disappear after 5 days but will stay there.