Sunday Afternoon Tea - When our weakness is our message

Have you ever compared yourself to others, your life to that of your friends?  Of course, we all have.  It's human nature to do so... even if it isn't wise.  We tend to be in awe of people who are doing "great things for God" when our life seems so small. 

It got me thinking of how so often we say we are "just" a... wife, husband, single person, teenager, senior citizen, college student, parent, etc.  While in God's eyes we are His unique creation, each one of us an individual like no other who has ever lived or who will ever live on the planet.  We are His workmanship.  We are His Art.  We are part of His Story.  

There is nothing "just" or small about us.

We don't have a problem accepting that all the good stuff in our life comes from Him but what about the circumstances we would just as soon not walk through or live with?  Sigh... yes, we know they are allowed to mold us into who we are on this journey called life.  We are a compilation of the good and the gifts and the trials and the failures and the successes and the joys and the tears that He has allowed.

Sometimes it is the unwelcome news that has sent us on the direction we find ourselves in our journey.  For instance, if my son didn't have ADHD then I would have missed the enjoyment of homeschooling.  But I wasn't thinking joy that day we pulled him out of school to teach him at home.  The word I was thinking was... why?  That decision completely changed where I thought I'd be at that time in my life.

I know without a doubt that God uses our weakness as well as our strength to be His light in the world.  He understands our "why" questions but sometimes the answer is... because this is where I need you. That's hard for some Christians to accept but the truth is that God wants to use us where we are willing to go and sometimes where we are not so willing.

He wants those of us who know Him to be His salt and light in the special needs support group.  He wants those who love Him who have survived cancer or who live with chronic illness to listen to those just beginning to walk that path.  He needs the person in her 20s to share with the teenager how she stayed true to her faith in high school and the graduate student to help the freshman make good choices in that first year of college.

He knows that the parent who seemed to do everything right and loved God and knows His Word but finds herself with a prodigal in jail is just the person who can find peace and share it with other parents in the same situation.  He needs the couple who have stayed together over many years to assure the newlyweds they will get through the tough times with Jesus as the center of their marriage.

Everyone has gone through something and survived.  No Christian goes through this life without struggles.  We live in a fallen world.  This isn't Heaven, yet.  How can God use you?  When you have gained the wisdom He wants you to have in the midst of each trial.  Then he has someone who can step along side another to give encouragement and His Word.  Sometimes to a fellow Christian but quite often to one who would never step foot into a church. 

Sometimes I grow weary on this journey and I find encouragement in writings by those who have walked the path.  Then there are days when only The Book offers solace.  But I'm old enough to look back and know for certain that God never left me alone, that He has always provided what I need whether it is finances, or a friend, or that peace that passes understanding.

So if you think you are someone whose life is too small to be used by Him... know that if there is breath within you then He has you here for a reason.  A purpose which only you can accomplish.