“P’Shelby, color?"
The question was asked with hopeful anticipation of the fun that could happen. “Sure!”, I say. I always love to do art with the girls, so any time that they voluntarily ask to color, I will eagerly agree!
I got out the coloring supplies, passing out blank pages and pastels. Then I happily settled down to attempt my own masterpiece.
The time passed peacefully as the girls talked while drawing secret worlds of color. Each stroke-filled a place in their imaginative picture. A little while passed, and then, as always, there appeared a little person beside me holding up a piece of paper that was filled with
colorful imagination.
“Here P’Shelby! This is for you!” As I took the paper and tried to imagine what it could possibly be, I realized that she had handed it to me in the child-like faith that I would enjoy it, treasure it, and possibly use it. Her smile practically lit up the room as she gave me the paper. She was just happy that she could give me something.
As I thought more about this, I realized that this is partly what Jesus meant when He told us to have faith like a little child. As I grow older, I find myself questioning if God can really use me. I know how powerful He is, and I know how sinful and simple I am, so I am often faced with the question, “Can God really use me?" The task is so huge, and so much is at stake, and I don’t know how to do this. "Can He really use me?”
As I was handed that piece of paper, I realized that it is kind of like what we do when we give God our lives to use. That is if we give our lives to Him in faith. That little girl never thought that I wouldn’t like the photo or that I would be displeased by receiving it; she just gave it to me with a big smile on her face.
What would happen if we gave God our talents, our abilities, our time, or even our lives without worrying if He’ll like it or be able to use it? All God asks us is to give Him ourselves. He knows we aren’t perfect, and He knows we’ll need a lot of help, but that’s ok with Him. He is God, after all. He can change us and use us, and He will be happy and proud of us for just taking that step to give ourselves to Him.
What if we changed our outlook from being one of having to be enough, to one of joy that we can just give God something? One of my favorite quotes says...
“God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” Mark Batterson
For me, that is so important to remember. So, I want to invite you to try to work on just giving yourself to God and trusting Him to make any changes necessary. I will be working on that, will you?
Comments