The first reaction of most people upon hearing that I am doing the World Race is complete silence, and then "Wow! I wish I could do something like that." Then there are the individuals that think I'm a complete nutcase for doing something like this. All kinds of reactions, but one constant. People thinking that they have to somehow be 'specially qualified' to do something 'that extreme.'
On that note, let me lay down my qualifications to you. Just so we're clear.
– I am not a college graduate. Past high school the only kind of higher education that I pursued was one year at a bible institute. No degrees.
– I did not grow up with a perfect, Disney World kind of family. I come from a broken home.
– I do not speak 20 different languages. I am lucky if I can get my English to come out sounding grammatically correct.
– I am a girl. You may be thinking, "Why you gotta bring gender into this? What does that have to do with anything?" But truthfully, historically speaking, and even in many of the countries that I will be visiting, females are still second-rate to males.
– And any abilities that I may have are not any that come from me personally. I was blessed by God, and God alone in the first place.
All this to say…do I have any special qualifications? Absolutely not! But do I believe that God can supernaturally work through me? Yes, I most certainly do! People say it all the time, that "God will never give us more than we can handle." For some reason, I do not believe this statement. You may be thinking, "Blasphemy!" Let me explain. I think God DOES give us more than WE can handle, because he wants us to depend on HIM more. We can't handle it on our own, we NEED HIS help.
"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." – 1 Corinthians 1: 26-31
Think carefully about the people that God chose to use in the bible. Were they any more special than you or me? No! They were mere human beings with flaws and weaknesses, and that is the exact reason that God chose to use them. So that through them his power would be shown. People would see a mere human doing extrordinary things and know that God had to be working through them.
My whole point in all this ranting is this…God wants to use you. It doesn't have to be on the World Race or on another missions trip, though I would highly recommend that. But God WANTS to use you. Just like you are too. Flaws and all. He just wants you to be willing to do whatever he asks, no matter how crazy or dangerous it sounds to others. Just be willing, know you don't have to be qualified, and let God do the work.
