Last week I got laid out from an important figure in my life.  I felt verbally assaulted and I was practically numb from feelings of intense hurt and anger.  As the hurt set in, I simply felt weary.  Broken.  Hopeless.  Though I was not physically laying on my back – inside my heart that is where I was.  Knocked out – flat.

I did what I often do and I reached out to my good friend Mary.  And this is what she did.  Although she lives all the way across the country from me – first she laid right there right beside me and listened to my story.  She wrapped her arms around me with her words and her love.

I know Mary’s routine well and she will never lay with me too long.  In every text and every word she spoke truth, she fixed my eyes on Jesus, she reminded me that my battle is not with this person – but with Satan.  She cautioned me against bitterness and lashing back.  She urged me to shift my prayers over this person to remove the sting.  She reminded me of the hope we have in Jesus.  Relationships can be healed and miracles still happen.  She said that the loved ones who have gone before us may be interceding and praying on our behalf…that it’s all much bigger and grander than we know.  She reminded me that the Lord is taking his people to a new city where all things – even relationships – are restored.

“Who knows how God will continue our stories on the other side of the veil?”

In every word and every text, Mary gently took my hands and pulled me up from horizontal position and forced me into sitting position…she then wrestled me onto my knees and stayed there a bit…and then she pushed me to my feet and helped me raise my hands towards heaven.

One of my all-time favorite stories in the Bible is found in Exodus 17:12.  The story begins with Moses commissioning Joshua and his men to go out and fight the Amalekites.  For this particular battle, Moses was granted a unique power by God. As long as his hands were raised, Israel prevailed.  But if he lowered his hands, the Amalekites prevailed.

“But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur held up his hands the one on the one side, and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

I absolutely love that.  Moses’ buddies came alongside him and lifted his battle weary hands.

Everyone needs a few Aarons and Hurs in their lives.  We need friends who won’t just pet our heads and lay beside us when we are flat out.  We need friends who will grab our hands, hoist us to sitting positions, look into our eyes and gently push us up to standing position until we are able to raise our hands all the way to heaven.

I don’t have the strength to stand alone.  I have a few Aarons and Hurs who I can count on.  People who speak truth, send scriptures, speak kindly, who won’t let me wallow or be the victim, who hold me back from getting up on my haunches and attacking back, who believe in me and know what I am capable of.  These people also need me to be strong so that one day I can stand by their side when their hands are weary… and be an Aaron or Hur to them.

Each of us can be an Aaron or a Hur.  We can lift someone’s heavy hands.  Who do you know who is battle weary?  It might be someone who is in a broken marriage, a young mama, someone with health issues, someone who is overwhelmed, lonely, discouraged, has a heavy heart, or is hopeless.

We can lift heavy hands through encouragement, coming alongside, performing acts of service, and especially through prayer.  Come alongside your loved ones, lift up their heads, and encourage them to stand up until they are able to raise their hands all the way to heaven.

The Lord will take it from there.

But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head. – Psalm 3:3