Who Is Holding Your Hands Up?
By Cathie Ostapchuk
There is a moment in Exodus 17 that I wish we talked about more when we talk about leadership. Moses is standing above the battle with the staff of God in his hands. As long as his hands remain raised, Israel prevails. It is important work. God-given work. Work only Moses can do in that moment. And still, his hands grow tired.
Scripture does not call this failure. It calls it weariness.
So Aaron and Hur come close. They find a stone for Moses to sit on, stand on either side of him, and hold his hands up. They do not replace him. They do not criticize his capacity. They simply help him carry what he can no longer carry alone.
One of the formation truths in our new Gather Circles material says it this way: every sustainable life is a held life. That sentence is confronting because somewhere along the way many of us began to equate maturity with independence. We know how to show up. We know how to be useful. We know how to carry responsibility, care for people, solve problems and keep moving. We are less practiced at letting someone see that our arms are tired.
But the biblical story is filled with community: bodies, tables, friends, churches, mentors, co-labourers, Aarons and Hurs. Apparently needing one another was never a flaw in the design. It was the design.
This is part of what we discovered again in our summer Gather Circles. Transformation does not only happen when someone gives us the right answer. Often it happens when we finally say the true thing out loud in the presence of God and a few safe people. Someone bears witness. Someone asks another question. Someone reminds us who we are when we have forgotten. Someone holds up an arm.
This fall, Gather Circles will begin opening to women who are longing for exactly that kind of space. Six weeks at a time. Scripture at the centre. Honest questions. Formation practices that move from the call into ordinary life. No highlight reel required.
For women carrying significant leadership, The Studio offers a deeper year-long formation journey, with coaching, community, discernment and intentional development. Our cohort is being finalized now, and if you have already begun a conversation with us about joining, please do not let the moment pass.
And today we are also asking you to save another date: November 6–7. BEHOLD will be a Gather weekend of worship, story, leadership, celebration and vision as we mark ten years and look toward what God may be asking of us in the decade ahead.
Maybe strength is not proving that our arms never tire. Maybe strength is knowing who can stand beside us when they do.