With God All Things Are Possible

“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves,
 but our adequacy comes from God.”
2 Corinthians 3:5

Some days this verse makes me glad - days where nothing is going right!  I am so glad that I am not dependent upon my own adequacy because my best is as filthy rags unto the Lord.  That doesn’t mean that I don't acknowledge that I can sometimes do things fairly decently, but it does mean that the ability to attempt anything is from the Lord.  My very breath is a gift.  My arms and legs and eyes and ears are a gift.  That they are all functioning properly at any given time is a miracle!  I look back over the years of raising our boys and homeschooling, and there were days when I thought I had done a decent job and days where I felt like an absolute failure, but the neat part is that God is mindful that we are but dust, and He takes my efforts and makes the results beautiful in His sight!

When I speak, I usually have feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.  God, did I prepare the right material?  Will I be able to speak what is on my heart?  Will anyone walk away having been taught or encouraged?  I go out there and do my best and time and time again, God has shown me that He intervenes and makes what He wants out of what I say.  One day two ladies sat in the same conference.  It was on parenting.  I very briefly mentioned that I had homeschooled, but didn’t dwell on it.  Afterwards, one lady came to me and told me how glad she was to hear me because she knew now that God had called her to homeschool.  The very next lady in line, said that she was glad to hear me because she had been wrestling with homeschooling and after hearing me talk had realized that homeschooling was not the direction for her family.  Same speech!

Recently, I gave a talk that I have given numerous times.  I was rambling on and mentioned having had a hard heart at one point in my life.  This was the first time that I had ever said this in a conference.  Afterwards, a woman came up to me and said that she realized that she had a hard heart from my description and asked me to pray for her.  God knows my audience – their hearts, their needs.  I don’t.  “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves…”

“But our adequacy comes from God.”  No matter what you undertake – marriage, parenting, business, missions, etc… remember that God can take your human imperfections and use them for His kingdom!