They called her Moses.
An unlikely heroine, Harriet Tubman was five-feet tall and suffered a brain injury at age 15 when a heavy iron weight was hurled in her direction. In the years that followed, she was plagued by sleeping spells and migraine headaches.
Born a slave, Tubman was abused by cruel taskmasters who beat her and scarred her body. She was forced to drag animal traps through icy cold swamplands wearing a thin cloth to cover her feet.
She tasted freedom and escaped her chains in 1850. Harriet described how her perspective changed once she stood on free soil: “I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free, there was such glory over everything, the sun came up like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.”
Her response to emancipation was to risk all to help guide others to liberty. Rather than sit on her laurels and enjoy life, she willingly chose to encounter hardship and reach out to those who were still in chains. She returned nineteen times and led 300 people to freedom.
Harriet Tubman’s scarred feet were beautiful to those she helped rescue.
Beautiful feet bring Good News.
Isaiah tells the story of how God’s people were set free from Babylonian captivity. A returning exile ran from battleground as a herald declaring the glorious outcome. Peace and freedom were restored to the kingdom. This celebration of deliverance foreshadows our coming redemption and the victorious return of Christ, our Great Liberator.
In the New Testament, we see how the disciples in the early church lived with the same fervor as Harriet Tubman and the herald from Isaiah’s time. They’d been set free from sin. The message of salvation was burning in their hearts. These unschooled messengers faced prison and persecution and cared little for their personal safety. They responded to opposition by saying, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
Sisters, God has shown Himself strong on our behalf. We’ve been forgiven and restored. The chains of guilt and shame are gone, and we stand free in the glorious light of God’s love and grace.
Forgiveness is Good News, and we are the beautiful feet who must give our all to share the hope of salvation. We cannot drag our feet and sit on our laurels. We may be unlikely heroes, but our calling is to boldly celebrate our deliverance and guide those still enchained in sin toward freedom.
How will you make His message known this week? May your beautiful feet carry Jesus to your family, your neighbor, and our world.
Keeping the Faith,
Lyli
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What a privilege it is to have Lyli Dunbar (LGG Mentor & Encourager Teams) on the blog today! Lyli enjoys road trips with her husband, connecting with women through Bible study, and reading way too many books. She shares how everyday experiences help flesh out her faith at 3-D Lessons for Life. A disciple, wife, educator, and mentor, Lyli is just a girl working to keep the faith day by day.
What a most beautiful post for today and so much to ponder on, am I like Harriet and Isaiah, going out to share this precious gift that I have been given? Not at first, but I am now!! Loved this Lyli!! Thank You!!
It’s amazing that God allows us to partner with Him in this adventure. Right?
This is beautiful, Lyli! Thank you! I am reminded of my past life and the chains that held me to so much pain, and the road map I was following to self destruction. But Jesus came! He pursued me, and He carried me right to that beautiful place of forgiveness and grace! Now, I must continue to share with others the glorious gift that He gave me, and He wants to give it to them too!
Praise God that He was able to take us off that road to destruction. You are so right that He pursues us and has brought us to a beautiful place.
I think this study has helped us all to remember how much we’ve been forgiven — so we need to share this hope with those who are still in need of His grace.
Thank you Lyli that was very beautiful.
I agree with Catherine and the others, Lyli. What a beautiful message of hope and forgiveness today! I pray that we all step out of our comfort zones and share this with others.
Lyli you wrote another great blog post today. My favorite part was “The message of salvation was burning in their hearts.” And now I must ask myself: Is it burning in my heart? i pray wherever my feet travel today that I can bring the message of grace.
Yes! May He light a fire in us that burns brightly.