So you wake up one day and in your prayers you say "Lord, use me!" Then you move into your day. The next day you wake up and pray "Lord, use me, I'm available to you!" Then you move into your day. Then one day you sit an ponder, why doesn't "God use me?" Ok, I don't know about you, but that happens a lot for me.
This morning God revealed two things to me:
1. You never pay attention to the things I'm trying to use you for.
2. It takes a minute to get you ready Deb.
God is always doing something. You'd be surprised how much goes on even in your tiny neighborhood. There are some things you will never become aware of, and then there are things God will reveal to you if your heart is in the right place, and if you are ready for it.
He prepares you, then uses you.
God wants us to be involved in what he is doing, and he will reveal His work to us so we can join Him. We need to open our eyes and our hearts and start to look around to see where God wants us to be working. God can use any method to reveal something to you. It could be a conversation with a friend, and commercial on TV, or an article on the internet. Many times we will come across issues that appeal to our hearts and we say "awww thats so sad" and then move on. We never quite make the connection that THAT could be God saying, hey, Deb I need your help on this project. No, we think it's sad, or cute, or even go as far as saying one day God will use me to fix t
he world hunger problem, then we move on with our day.
I can just imagine how frustrating it is for God trying to get us to look in the direction he wants us to. It's like trying to take a baby's picture. You need lights and whistles and dancing teddy bears to get our attention sometimes.
I think the first thing we need to do when we are ready to work with God, is pray for our heart to be in a place where we can recognize His call. That way, as we go through our day, we will be in constant conversation with God. Ok, I don't mean you're going to be talking out loud at your desk at work so everyone will think you're crazy. But if God says at any moment, "Hey look at this thing I'm doing here!" you can respond immediately, instead of our usual approach "Hmm, this looks like a God thing, let me go pray about it for a few months, if it still exists then I know God wants ME to do it." That's working backwards. Pray first, then listen and watch. Then start working.
So the second thing God scolded me about today was being impatient. Ok, so maybe he didn't give me an assignment right away, but it was because I wasn't ready. After you ask God to use you, give Him some time to get you ready, and lay the foundation for His work to be done the way he wants.
I prayed more than a few months ago "Lord, use me". Nothing happened, so I kept praying. But I still felt like nothing was happening. The closer I got to God, however through daily devotions, the more aware I was of the work he was doing in me and around me.
I was internetting recently, a few days after buying my sewing machine and I came across this project called Dress a Girl around the world. I did the usual, "awww that's sweet". and moved on with my day. Then I came across this other article and that's when the call became clear. I was supposed to make dresses for little girls and send them to Africa. Sounds like a joke right? Well it did for a while to me, but I kept coming across hints that I needed to get started on it. It's like God was saying: "you think I gave you that sewing machine for you?" :-) I smile!
So I complained to God. "I don't know how to sew" And he showed me that this was a simple assignment to turn pillowcases into dresses. He even lead me to youtube videos on how to do it. I complained again. "Where am I going to get these pillowcases from?" He gave me a long list of ideas. (Speaking of which, if you have any pillowcases you're not using send them my way). The more questions I asked, the more answers he provided. So I gave in.
Then God brought my emotions into the game. I saw these videos:
I started thinking about how I feel when I wear a dress, and I can't imagine a girl not knowing what that feels like. In my head it still is a pillow case, but to these girls, its worth smiling about.
Since giving in, I've still been trying to get started. Then my high school friend sent me a message that inspired me. In all my wondering about whether this is really what I should be doing, her message confirmed that God doesn't do anything random, everything has a purpose. Even me with my sad sewing skills buying a sewing machine out of the blue.
What have you been called to do, that you're still pondering and praying about?