#handmadeforapurpose Archives

A pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet

Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites who were constantly plundering the Israelites. The Angel of the LORD, who was Jesus Himself, appeared to Gideon in the winepress and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior”. It is funny to see that God has a great humor sense to call a man who was in the hiding ‘a mighty warrior’. God calls us His warriors even when we are fearful. God calls us by the name of whom He will make us into, and not who we are in our weaknesses and failures.

Gideon replied to The Angel of God, “If the LORD is with us why has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about the LORD bringing us from Egypt?” The LORD had abundant patience towards Gideon and did not point out to him that they were given in Midianites’ hands because of their own disobedience towards Almighty God. The LORD answered to him, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”.

God had tremendous patience towards Gideon even as he tested God three times to make sure God will surely go with him to the battle. Gideon took the people who were with him and encamped them opposite the enemy camp. The LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claims glory for itself against Me saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’.

So God tested the people who were with Gideon. He asked the people who were fearful to return to their houses and 22000 of them returned home. Then He tested the rest of them in the water. The ones who drank the water without caution about the enemies were asked to return. The army was now reduced to just 300 people. from the 33000 people who started off, Gideon’s army was reduced to just 300.

That night, the LORD told Gideon to go to the enemy camp so that He could strengthen Gideon through the words he would hear from the enemies. The Midianites and Amalekites were lying in the valley as numerous as the locusts and their camels were without number. And Gideon’s army was 300 people.

Gideon divided the people into 3 divisions and he gave a pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet to each of them. At the beginning of the middle watch, as they neared the enemy camp, they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers and shouted, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!”. When Gideon’s army blew the trumpet, the LORD set every man’s sword in the enemy’s camp against his own army’s companion and they all fled away. God gave victory to Gideon’s army just as He promised.

Two things that caught my attention are 1) God had so much patience towards Gideon though he dared to test God multiple times. God gave him provisions for his fear to be freed. 2) As usual with God’s ways, the unusual war weapons that God gave them, and cutting down the number of the army to make them completely dependent on God and to give the glory only to God and not to themselves.

Unimaginable to our little minds! 300 men with a pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet chased away an army as numerous as locusts. With God on our side, no battle is too big to defeat! In heavenly armor, we will enter the land, because the battle belongs to the LORD! AMEN!

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Handmaid of the Lord

As I sat at the watch-night service at church, pushing all my prayer requests to God to use me in more and more ways in 2023, (surprisingly I didn’t have any other requests than being used by God ) and I remembered something God had answered in 2022. In 2021, after amma went to be with the Lord, things were really difficult with dad. While juggling all of that, I had a deep desire up to the point of obligation that I wanted to use all the talents that God has given me for His Kingdom’s work. I started to even fret that if I don’t use my talents, God was going to ask me when I stand before Him. I started to earnestly pray for open doors. And my gracious God did open doors for me in 2022 in such a way that I was able to raise a big amount this year. I have contributed more than what I raised for Missions. If I had $40 at a time, I would add $10 and make it $50 and contribute.

The missions God graciously enabled me to support this year through my contributions are

Calvary Missions
Calvary Mission – Rwanda eye surgery camps
- Open doors USA – to distribute bibles in persecuted places
  - Compassion – malnourished kids
    - GEMS India
    - Homeless people in our areas
    - Elohim gospel ministries
      - Wayside shelter

I am just filled with gratitude towards God as He honored the desire of my heart and opened doors for me and gave me a purpose. My prayer is that God will make me into a vessel that will be useful for His Kingdom in many ways and not just one or two ways.

Also, God who is not a debtor to anyone provided me with the finances ahead of time to be able to cover the costs of the inventory. I was stuck in my job with no raise or promotion for 10 years. Last year God miraculously gave me a promotion and raise and so I didn’t have to worry about the expenses. Isn’t God awesome? Glorify our God with me.

Isaiah 41:9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, ‘you are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away’.

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Handmade for a mission

As an answer to my prayer, our church hosted an artisan fair to sell our handmade crafts.

By God’s grace, my booth had a great sale. As always, God came through! This opportunity itself was an answer to my prayer from last year when I asked God to give me a greater purpose. Since the day pastor announced this, I had been staying up late every night to make at least one art each day. I felt super excited and very hopeful about raising a good amount which I wanted to give entirely for the missions. God’s faithfulness is beyond what I can fathom. Every now and then, I do spend time and money at the craft store and never worried about the bills that would add up because I always enjoyed doing these handicrafts. God is not a debtor to anyone and the way He compensated me for the expenses even before I hosted the booth – one of my managers recommended me for recognition at work and I got reward points which I could redeem and I received it this week.

As we started to set up our booth, the disappointments started. It was windy and my idea to display the arts didn’t work. My spirit had gone completely down and I had no hope left that I could sell anything. My kids and I held hands and we prayed giving it all into God’s hands. Within 5 minutes, Kavitha stopped by at our booth and she suggested putting up the bookmarks to display which would hold up better against the wind. It worked! We quickly got a hang of how to greet the people who stopped by and start the conversation. By the end of the day, our CIC friends also stopped by and contributed generously and we finished well.

Some of the miracles from this event are

A missionary who is supported by Calvary and serves in Japan stopped by my booth and I felt so happy to talk to her. In my opinion, missionaries are the ones whose life holds much value before God. While this sale is being done to support missions and for a missionary to stop by – it is like a confirmation.
I had made some pieces of jewelry in the past years which I had listed on so many craft sites and they never sold. I had given up on their selling but at this fair, I sold almost every one of those.
At the end of the day, I had sold 16 pieces of art.
Today the miracles continued. After the church service, I bumped into a lady who had bought a bookmark and she started talking to me and so amazingly she started to share a couple of prayer requests. Even she kept wondering how she was saying all these things to me as we had never met before.
When I was disappointed about being unable to display the arts, my husband came up with the amazing idea of displaying them in a creative way. If not for that idea, we could not have displayed the art which I had worked hard on for a month. Jayden got great compliments from a school teacher for his marketing skills.

The reason I wanted to support missions is that it is an easier way of storing our treasures in heaven. There are lots of parts in the world where even a small dollar amount would add up to a big amount. Life is short and eternity is forever. We tend to spend our time making our life in this world comfortable and yet not knowing how long we would be here. Rather it is wise to focus on storing our treasures in heaven to make our eternity comfortable.

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Handmade with a purpose

Mathew 25:14

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his servants and gave 5 talents to one, 2 to another and 1 to another, to each according to his own ability; Then he who had received the 5 talents went and traded with them, and made another 5 talents. Likewise, he who had received 2 talents gained 2 also. But he who had received 1 talent went and dug in the ground and hid his lord’s money.

The ones who got 5 and 2 talents came and proudly shared their accomplishment of multiplying it to the lord. Their lord appreciated them and said, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord”.

Then the one who had received one talent came and said, “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours”.But his lord answered to him, “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.”

God has blessed me with so many creative skills. I work in Corporate for a living. I also love to do various stuff in my free time. My days would seem incomplete if not for these hobbies. I love to do watercolor arts with verses on greeting cards, bookmarks, wall arts. I also make jewelries. Recently I even tried some jewelries with resin. I make crochet caps and scarfs too.

I have a big and desperate desire to make use of these skills for God’s purpose. I have this deep desire to support some missionary work which proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ to people who do not know Him. Everyday I pray earnestly for God to give me a greater purpose to be useful for His Kingdom. I have spent so much of my life running after worldly things and accomplishments which are meaningless. I want to spend the rest of my life doing a greater purpose so that I can store up my treasures in heaven. Mathew 6:20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good woman are ordered by the LORD and He delights in her way.

I have listed my handmade items in the Bonanza site. My desire is to send the profits of these sales to a sincerely done missionary work. As of now, I am very much touched by the missionary work by GEMS(Gospel Echoing Missionary Society (https://www.gemsbihar.org/index.php) in Bihar, India. Please visit my listed items in the below link. https://www.bonanza.com/booths/GracefulPainted

Kindly share your thoughts on the comment section.

May God bless you abundantly and may each of us be used mightily for His Kingdom purpose! To Him be all glory, power and honor! Amen!.

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