One
morning my phone began to ring and ring--several people close to me needed
prayer for some very BIG stuff. I had a woman call me and ask me to pray with
her because she thought I had a deep faith. I remember thinking, “me?” By 10 am that day I had prayed for several
things and I sat down feeling a little overwhelmed. I actually asked God, “Me?”
Are you sure I can do this, what if I pray wrong, is my faith strong enough and
are you sure there isn’t someone who has walked longer with you or who doesn’t
have the sin I have had in my life”?
After
praying I headed out to meet some wonderful college students at Moody Bible
College in Spokane for their chapel. It was a president’s chapel, which means
the president of Moody, Dr. Paul Nyquist, was telecast to their chapel to
watch. “God is good” is part of my blog name that has now become part of the
title of this book. He knew ahead of time what my day would be like, he knew
the seriousness of some of the prayer requests that I would get that day and he
knew I was going to have a chance to share my faith with a beautiful woman who
needed hope for her family. He put it on my heart to get into chapel with the
Moody students. I laugh as I type this. They are not moody.
I
needed to hear that sermon!! Dr. Nyquist started out by talking about a bag of
baseballs he had. I am a baseball and a softball mom so let’s just say he had
me at hello. He took the baseballs out of the bag one at a time for us to see.
He pointed out how each is different, some have had more hits to them than
others, and some are so broken from the hits they have taken. He said they are
just like us, some of us have less sin and have been hit less then others but
we all have had our hits just like the baseballs in his bag. What a great
analogy. Then what he said was a home-run to my ears, and my heart. He said just
because you may be more hit harder than others due to your past hurt and sin,
do not ever doubt that God cannot and will not use you for his kingdom. It hit
me right then that God will give me all I need, He will give me the words to
speak truth into peoples life, and He’ll show me in my spirit how to pray. Doubt
was not from Him so I needed to stop allowing it to creep in.
A
few days later I was talking to my son who has some big decisions about the
direction he is to go for college and his future. We talked and prayed about
that and then I told him about how I was questioning my ability to be used by
God and how I heard from God in that sermon at Moody Bible College. My son said
something to me about working on a team with God and it was wonderful. I
remember saying to him, “yeah, it is like Philippians 4:13 that says all things
are possible with Jesus.” I said to my son that when we press into God and
really listen He can and will show us all we need. God would show him which
path to take and He would give me what I need to speak truth into the lives of
the women he is putting in my path. I asked him to write down his statement
about being on a team with God and e-mail it to me because what he said really
stuck with me. I guess he has a little of me in him because when he went to
write it down it just keep coming out and a statement turned into something
even bigger. I want to share it with you. I got that right!!!
I
hope you like what he wrote:
“GOD’S TEAM” by my son Tanner
A
team is “Two Or More People Working Together To Accomplish A Common Task.” In a
united team, members accomplish tasks together that would not be possible
without a collective effort. Teams also allow us to accomplish things that far
exceed our abilities and are beyond what we believed possible.
God
often places tasks on our hearts that seem overwhelming and often impossible.
The truth… these tasks are impossible through our own human effort. God’s tasks
are not given to us to better ourselves, or feel a sense of self-accomplishment
through our own efforts. Rather, I believe that God gives us tasks that
challenge us and often seem insurmountable. These tasks require us to press
into the Lord, and in turn, we learn that with God we can accomplish these
seemingly “impossible” tasks. It is a matter of trusting the Lord and having
full confidence that He will provide in the areas where we lack the abilities.
You don’t have to have special abilities to complete God’s work, but there is a
distinct ability that God sees in you as valuable and He desires to use your
specific God-given ability to accomplish his plan.
What
is your God-given ability? There are no
abilities that are better than another. However, abilities are useless unless
we press into the Lord and take on the tasks God has for us. Take for instance
the image of the “Body of Christ.” There is no body part that is more
important. When we compare parts such as a hand and a foot, our fleshly nature
would argue that the hand has greater value to the body. However, God made the
human body so that every part is vital. In the same way, God views the feet of
the Body of Christ just as valuable as the hand because they can both do God’s
work, yet the tasks for the foot are different than those from the hand. The
hand and the foot do not have the same abilities, thus they do not have the
same tasks. Often praise is given to beautiful eyes, but has anyone given you a
compliment of your ears? I am going to say probably not. In the same way, we
give praise to what we perceive as the more beautiful or more “important” parts
of the Body of Christ, when in reality each part is unique in its own way. The
Body of Christ would not function without the unique ability that each
Christian has to offer.
Maybe
you are a prayer warrior and God has overwhelmed you with multiple people
coming to you with burdens and you are stressed with all of the weight being
placed on you. Or maybe you have Christ’s eyes and see people in need, but do
not feel equipped to impact that person’s life. Maybe that is just it… God
equipped you with eyes so you recognize those in need and then you have to hand
it over to the Lord and let him take you beyond your abilities. The Lord knows
we are not capable of doing the things he is able to do, but he has given us
unique abilities that open the door for God to do His work through us. Perform
your God-given ability by giving 110%, honoring God in everything you do.
Remember there is no ability that is greater than another. Be humble in your
ability and know that on God’s team, He can take your unique ability, and do
amazing things to further His kingdom.
WOW, my heart
overflows with joy when I read my son’s words. That is what I call a PROUD
MOMMA MOMENT!!
I
am ready for what God has in my path and my future. I am ready to press in a
new and exciting way; I am on a team with God and with Him as my team captain
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. I hope you want to be on his team also. He sees each
of us in our own special way, it is not like when we were in elementary school
and the best were picked first for the teams on the playground. I truly was
last picked if there was a ball involved; the other kids saw my lack of skill. God
is not like those kids; He wants us all on his team, brokenness and all. He
doesn’t hand pick the best, He wants us all and in our weakness He is able to
build one heck of a strong team.
1 comment:
It is encouraging to hear how God spoke to you at Moody Bible Institute - Spokane's chapel. Dr. Nyquist will be here in Spokane after spring break to teach the rest of the series on Jacob.
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