Well, He's certainly been attacking that way of thinking lately. It seems like everywhere I look I'm getting the same message in one form or another...that sometimes it's those very weaknesses that we most think 'If He would just remove that one thing from me...' about that God is most looking to us to use FOR Him. He can do ANYTHING...so why should we feel like He can't overcome our shortcomings if we just submit to His will? How vain of us to think that we are beyond God's capabilities? Isn't that essentially what we are saying when we say to ourselves that God can't use us because were not smart enough, too old, too young, too shy, too fat, too skinny, sick, disabled, poor, depressed, alcoholic, abused, busy, can't sing, haven't studied the bible enough...whatever our excuse is...it isn't too much for God.
Lately I've found one example after another of people that I know are doing amazing things for Christ despite some of the same excuses that I mentioned...and it's those examples that just keep reaffirming the message of 1 Corinthians 12 that God gives each of us spiritual gifts but that we do not all possess the same gifts. That doesn't mean that our gifts aren't just as 'important' or 'usable' by Him as someone else's gifts...just that ours are different from theirs...and that makes it all the more important that we allow God to use the spiritual gifts He blessed each of us with to the fullest.
So what are your spiritual gifts? If you aren't sure then there's no time like right now to start asking Him to reveal them to you...and just keep asking...when the time is right He'll show you. Still not convinced that He can use you? Let me tell you about just a couple of the examples that have come before me recently...
Both are Contemporary Christian Music artists which are successful in their careers and reach untold numbers of people with Christ's message on a daily basis through radio and live performances. Both of whom I've enjoyed their music for a number of years now, but I knew little about them personally outside of what comes out through their music...but through finding out just a little more about who they are off the radio and the things that they have faced in their lives...they have become wonderful examples to me of God's unlimited ability to use anyone that will allow Him to use them.
First off, Mark Hall, singer and songwriter of the group Casting Crowns. I've loved their music from the very first song I heard for it's sheer honesty and the obvious love of Christ that pours out of their musical worship. So when I heard that they were coming to a venue not too far from here I couldn't wait to purchase tickets and go see them in person. I bought tickets right after they went on sale (and spent more money than I had ever talked myself into spending for a concert by probably two times over, I might add) so that I could get really close/good seats...and I did...center stage on the second row. I couldn't wait for the concert and I was so excited when I arrived...but that excitement didn't even begin to compare to the way I felt by the time the show ended. Not long into the show, Mark began to share about his own struggle of feeling like God didn't need him...he talked of being dyslexic and of having ADD and how much of a struggle just getting through school was for him...and how when he first started feeling called to ministry that he felt like he couldn't possibly do it. Then he shared how in the midst of his own 'argument' with God that there had to be someone better than himself and that God needed them, that he finally could hear God's answer to that 'If only God would remove that one thing...' excuse...that he heard God saying "I don't need you, I want you". What an awesome thought! Mark has gone on from that realization that God didn't need him but wanted him to become a full time youth pastor in addition to his success in the music industry. I sat there thinking to myself...see there's someone a lot like you (after all...just in case you've never met me, because that's the only way you wouldn't already know...I'm ADD...lol)...and look at what God is doing through him!
The other example that has recently come to my attention involves singer Natalie Grant. One of her CD's is probably the first CCM purchase I ever made...I'd listened on radio and borrowed other's before...but something about her music just made me want to have a copy for myself. She has an amazing voice and seems so genuine. I'd seen her on the Dove awards and heard little sound bytes here and there of comments from her...but like Mark, knew nothing really about who she was when the microphones were gone. Well, I'm one of those people who almost ALWAYS takes a picture (or two or three...lol) with me when I go to get my hair cut, and right now I'm in one of those in-between stages as I grow my hair back out from my semi-annual cut-it-short-and-start-over and I remembered a picture I once saw of Natalie with the basic cut I was looking for on my next trip...so I started searching for images online. I kept seeing the same 5 or 6 images over and over in every search (and only one of those was actually taken when her hair was cut like I was looking for) so I thought that maybe if I searched not specifically for images but for articles or pages about her that I might find some pictures that the image searched hadn't yielded. Then I came across an interview with her in which she addressed having been in an emotionally abusive relationship and her development of an eating disorder in her attempts to 'please' her fiancee. She talked about recovering from the eating disorder and how she still struggled with those thoughts from time to time...again, I thought wow...here's someone else who's a lot like me and look what God's doing with her!
So do I believe that God can use me? Yes, I do...and I'm willing to allow it...Are you?
