Ever been asked to do something that made you nervous? You know, something outside your comfort zone or level of expertise? I know my talents, the stuff I'm good at and comfortable doing. I can plan an event, market, advertise and fundraise with the best of them. But sharing the gospel with complete strangers? Speaking in front of people? Or opening up and telling the ugly parts of my story? Ummmm.... That's the stuff that makes my heart pound, my palms sweat and my stomach queazy. NO THANKS!
A couple of weeks ago there was a meeting that I couldn't attend and I knew they were going to be divvying up responsibilities and I offered to help with the things I'm best and most comfortable doing. I was told later that they decided that I would be best at doing the devotions. Oh my. Uncomfortable doesn't even come close to describing how I felt about my new responsibility. (Maybe the lesson learned here is don't miss any meetings! Lol)
"But what about MY ideas for marketing?", I thought to myself. "Don't they know I'M really good at those things?"
I really struggled with this for a while. About a week went by and I was reading an email devotion about putting your faith where your action is. And suddenly my eyes were opened! I know God has been calling me into ministry of speaking and sharing my story. What better way to begin to get experience in this area of my life where I need to grow and stretch than having the responsibility of doing devotions! I kinda felt like I had been hit over the head with a realization lightening bolt! I could not believe I hadn't seen that all along.
First of all God immediately softened my heart to see that I should be grateful that the people in that meeting saw that potential in me and they weren't just throwing something on me that they didn't want themselves. Then he showed me if I'd had been given the responsibility of the stuff I'M good at, it would have been ME getting the credit because I wouldn't have to rely on God to help me. And it's all about HIM!
To top it all off this past Sunday at church the message was about self help. And how self reliance makes you arrogant and you forget your dependence on God. And God will help those who admit they are powerless on their own and trust him alone for help.
How about that for timing?!
Oh yeah, and then right after church I was asked if I could do a 5 minute devotion for Upward football on one of the Saturdays this fall. You better believe I said "YES!"
Stretch me God, lead me on this journey. Take this and make it how YOU see it should be. The thing you are calling me into makes me feel nervous because it's not on my skill that I can rely on. It's YOU alone.
Did you know that HE>I comes from Hawaii?
ReplyDeleteI used to have it on my old car. Need to get a new one.
Great post. Always enjoy hearing how the Lord moves us and uses us and stretches us to shine His greatness.
Keeping walking it out my friend. God's got big things for you ahead.
Arrogance....Self dependence.....Stepping outside of my comfort zone.....
ReplyDeleteI can relate to not wanting to do something I'm supposed to be doing, and always finding the perfect excuses.
as you said, "Stretch me God". I've been needing some stretching...
or in my case, beat me, break my stubborn mind. God, please, once and for all, help me to become not just all in for you, but all in for your will for my life. Take away my avoidance and reservations. Confirm in me the absolute value of trusting in You with all of my heart and that I can do all things through you. Let me run no more. Empower me and show how to do the unthinkable. Amen
Sister, if you didn't know already, I'm the king of shamming. That means if there's a corner to cut or an easy way out, I love to try and figure it how to do that. I almost always keep one foot in bounds but if some rule, policy, etc seems like overkill, I'm the one who's gonna figure a way around it. and....am able to do it without getting in trouble(most of the time). I became so good at it that I would even look for ways to beat the system, just because I enjoyed the challenge. However, even the thrill of pulling one over on "the man" had gotten old.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but God ain't no dummy and He's the one who gave the farmer the knowledge to build the turnip wagon...
Nervousness, inadequacy, unworthiness, fear of judgement by others, being hypocritical...
Many times over and over I've had conversations with Him that started with me saying, God I can't! He replied "Yes you can". I said I don't want to! He said "I am in charge, are you gonna obey me"? I said I'm not worthy! He said "You are forgiven". I said I don't want to be hypocritical...and He said, "You are a prime, glorious example of how I fix broken things for broken people....you are a new creation".
Simply put, all we gotta do is trust and obey Him.