"Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." ~ Exodus 20:20
Two days ago, after a long period of contemplating, I offered to perform one little task for a ministry at church. This task is new for me and it would stretch me. John Ortberg said in his video, "It All Goes Back in the Box", that when we try to get out of our comfort zone we expose our strengths and weaknesses. Now I sit in the scary situation of scrutiny. And who is my greatest critic but my own. At this point my weaknesses flood my mind and I see my strengths disappearing. Even as I wait to see if I will be allowed to do it, I feel like I'm now an open target. Deep inside a part of me says I should withdraw my offer; the other side says to stop being an observer and get in the salt mines. I am aware that there are many people who are more capable to do the job and maybe this is not where I should be. If it turns out that someone else should do the job, then I will still have progressed myself by having been forced to look at my own weakness in terms of my attitude and acknowledging that I need to be transformed; to get rid of the things that are between me and God.
Father, your words are so true and they guide me. Help me to obey You with trembling. Teach me not to be afraid of the things of lesser consequence for You are with me.
Good for you to take a leap of faith...YOU can do all things through Him who strengthens YOU!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jenny. I must at least say here that I completed this task and am delighted with the result. I offered to speak at our church's annual Ladies' Tea. I have never spoken in such a crowd before although I've spoken many times in big conferences in my capacity as plant scientist. This was definitely outside my box...and I praise God for He helped me abundantly so I could use the gifts that He has given me to bless other.
ReplyDeleteBy the way my topic was "Growing Together by Design". I used the analogy of plants to demonstrate the role of God (Gardener)in our lives and our role in other people's lives.