Humbled

Tonight I went to our Wednesday night service.  This is not unusual for me, as I generally go every Wednesday.  Sadly, I’m more consistent on Wednesday nights than on Sunday’s – why?  I do not know.  I haven’t quite figured that one out myself.

Tonight our Pastor talked about prayer and how it is an opportunity, but also a responsibility.  It is an opportunity because we get to go to God.  We don’t have to go through an intercessor or middle man – we get to go straight to the throne of God.  In fact, we’re commanded to go boldly to the throne of God.  I don’t know that I’m so good with that one.  In fact, I know I’m not.  I tend to be timid and shy and act as if God shouldn’t have the time to spend on me.

However, prayer is also a responsibility, especially if we see another person living in a pattern of sin.  I was a little surprised by this because I hadn’t really thought of it that way before.  I mean, I think of prayer when I have sinned.  But I don’t necessarily think of it, when I see someone else living in sin.  I am not so good with this part either.

But that’s not really what I was planning to write about tonight.  Something that struck me more than this lesson on prayer.  I sat behind a gentleman tonight, whom I have never met before, and I may never see again.  I can’t remember his name, though I know he told me.  But he really touched my heart tonight.

This man told me tonight that I had a beautiful singing voice.  This is not the first time I heard that, but it is the first time it struck a nerve in me.  He went on to say that if I wasn’t in choir, I should be.  He said that with a talent like that, I should be sharing it.  I tend to say thank you to those comments and then shrug them off afterward, but I couldn’t tonight because it didn’t end there.

We sat through the lesson, and after it had ended, as we were picking up our things to go, he called out to me.  He said, “I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything, but really you should be in choir if you are not already.  You have such a beautiful voice you need to be sharing it.”  Then he proceeded to hand me his pen, which says “King of Kings” on it, and said, “Every time  you look at that pen, you remember that you have a talent and that you need to share it.”  As I left the sanctuary, I couldn’t help but look at that pen with tears in my eyes.

Now, at this point, you may be asking yourself, “Where in the world is she going with this?”  I’m getting there, I promise.

As I mentioned, I have heard that  I have a beautiful voice before.  I hear it often, but as I also mentioned, I tend to shrug it off because it never really seemed like a huge deal to me.  Big deal, so I can sing – right?  But this time, this came after having had those almost same exact words said to me on Monday by someone completely different – in a completely different setting.

I have been doubting that I have anything to offer anyone of any substance.  I have felt like I had nothing to give, and nothing that meant anything.  I felt like this was nothing.  I have been asking God for some time where He wants me to serve.  I never once felt like choir was where I needed to be.  What I wanted was to do something “big” for God.  I didn’t want to do something so small as sing in the choir – anyone can do that, right?  But this was like a big, loud, booming voice from God saying, “You need to do this for Me.  Stop stalling.  Get up and get moving!”  How do argue with that?

What I’m learning is there are no talents too small to be used for God.  God wants us to use all of our talents for His glory.  I just forgot that for a while in the face of my past.  I have never really felt like I could serve God properly because of my past, but God has been bringing home (boy has He ever!) that anything I do to serve Him pleases Him.  There is nothing I can do to please Him that is too small to bring Him glory.  My past is my past – and we all have a past filled with sin.  My job is to learn from that, but to also move forward to serve Him – not half-heartedly or fearfully – but with a full heart and with courage.  He really humbled me tonight, with the simple words of a man I had never before met, but who spoke truth to me boldly.

So, with all that said, I do intend to use the talents and gifts that God has given to me.  What about you?  Do you have talents that you have been ignoring because you didn’t feel like they or you were “good enough’?  God doesn’t want you to hide your talents and gifts.  He wants you to use them for His glory.  He wants you to come to Him boldly.  And remember, courage isn’t the lack of fear.  It is taking action and moving forward in spite of fear.

Until Next Time,