What do you have in your hand?

“What do you have in your hand?” God asked Moses when he was calling him to lead the people of God out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land (Ex 4:2).

This is one of Rose’s favorite verses. Rose is GO Africa’s Facilitator for Local Church Partnerships. She uses this verse to talk about local sustainability with leaders and elders in local churches and the Management Committees of the Father’s Houses. “Before you get too excited about big dreams,” she tells them, “Look closely at what you already have in your hand. Don’t ask for things you don’t have. First look at the things you already have.”

The Moms at the Bunia, Congo, Father’s House took Rose seriously after she talked with them about this verse. The land given to the Father’s House by the local church had on it three mango trees. There is no way that 15 children and 2 Moms at the Father’s House can eat all the mangoes from three big mango trees. So, when the mangoes were ripe, the Moms harvested some of them, put them in two baskets, and sat by the roadside to sell them to passers-by. With the money they got from selling the mangoes, they went to the market and bought fish for the children to eat.

What did they have in their hand? God had provided mangoes for them, and they sold them to improve the children’s diet.

Rose remarked, “That’s a family. That’s what families in Congo do. The Moms already get the vision!”

Moms selling extra mangoes at the market