23
Mar '19
What God Left Out
23
Mar '19
Sometimes we can get so frustrated when we try to do new (or old!) things and it just doesn’t work out for us. I’ve tried skiing – quite a few times – it just doesn’t work out for me. Sure, could I try harder? I suppose I could, but the fear of going down that steep hill just terrifies me too much. How would I ever get over that initial fear so I could eventually go down that big scary hill again? Good question. I don’t know. I’ve done it, and it was terrifying for me. If you have a suggestion, I’m all ears. Until then, unless something miraculous happens, it’s the bunny hill for this girl.
But maybe God just left out “skiing” for Dena. Maybe God thought, “No.. Skiing isn’t going to be your thing, but _________ is”. Is it possible that there are so many things that we’re good at, we shouldn’t get caught up in the things that we may not be so good at?
We’re all not made the same way, just as a hammer isn’t made to make bread, and an oven isn’t made to build a house, neither are we made to do something that we’re just not made to do. We can watch our worship leaders at church singing beautifully, but try as we might, some of us just weren’t made to sing. Does that mean that God left you hanging, because He didn’t give you the “gift” of song?? No.. but what is it that you CAN do? Why not focus on what you can do, instead of what you can’t?
God made all of us the way He made us for a reason. We all are so different, and that’s what is so beautiful. Wouldn’t life be boring if He had made us all the same? We all have different temperaments and gifts, and they can be used to help each other. Where one is lacking, the other can provide. Just today, someone at work had a medical emergency, and since I’m on the First Responder team, I got a group text asking to go help. Although I’m trained in CPR and using the defibrillator and can provide basic first aid, I still feel quite inadequate with my limited training. There isn’t terribly much I can do in these situations, but I have a friend at work who is also on the First Responder team who is a Purchasing agent by day, but after her “9 to 5” job is done each day, she puts on her paramedic and Lieutenant Firefighter hat. She is on call and works at her city’s fire station doing ambulance runs, saving lives, and putting out fires in the evenings and the middle of the night. As you can imagine, she’s calm, cool and collected in times like this. Should I feel broken or think that God left something out in me because I can’t be the same cool, calm and collected as my friend is during a medical emergency? Or that I would run the opposite way than she does in a house fire? I surely could feel that way, but I don’t – because I don’t believe God made me to be a paramedic or a firefighter, but I know beyond doubt He made my friend to be one.
Psalm 139:14 NLT (A Psalm of David): “Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.”
The Lord gave Jeremiah this message: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT). As the Lord knew Jeremiah before he was born, He also knew us. He’s appointed us to be who He wanted us to be, not what someone else wants us to be.
So, embrace what God has given you, and also embrace what He didn’t. He knew you before you were born, and knew exactly what to give you to allow you to thrive in this life. Take hold of that knowing that He made you perfectly perfect in His eyes, and you were made perfectly perfect to be YOU. No one else…. YOU. You are who you are because that’s who God made you to be.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago”. – Ephesians 2:10 NLT
God’s workmanship is always perfect – and never forget you are His masterpiece.
BLOG AUDIO
*Dena*
Please share this blog. Simply click the share button below, or copy the URL.
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oakwoodchurchsaline/
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oakwood_churchmi/