Say Yes to Being Used

I was a young woman when I was first asked to teach the word. It was not a big fancy invitation. It was a simple request from a pastor at my church. I have to admit, when he first asked me, I was scared! Like, shaking in my boots kind of scared. I would be speaking at our church’s “young marrieds” retreat. And to say that I felt inadequate would be an understatement. Not only was I one of the youngest people at the retreat, but out of all the people in attendance, I had been married for the shortest amount of time. I thought to myself, what did “I” have to teach them? These people are older and probably wiser than me. But I had been asked and after giving it some prayer I felt that the Lord wanted me to say yes.

After a few months passed, the time had come.

The night before my talk I couldn’t sleep. It was fear that kept me awake. I had thoughts running through my mind like ‘what if I’m too nervous to even speak a word? What if I forget what to say? What if I make a complete fool of myself?’ I thought, ‘Oh Lord, what did I get myself into?’

I stayed up the whole night begging God to show up and speak through me.

The next morning came and a miracle happened. Jesus did show up! I knew that He was not only with me, but He was giving me the ability to speak. I could feel His Spirit working in and though me, it was the best and most rewarding experience of my life!

The reason it was such an amazing experience is because of the closeness that I felt to God while speaking and teaching His word. There is absolutely nothing that can compare to the sweetness of being close to Him.

I’ve found since then that I feel closest to God when I’m doing His work. Which has made me to want to do His work more and more.

From that day on, my deepest prayer and cry of my heart began to be “Use me. God, use me, in any way that you see fit. I say yes to you. All I need is your Spirit to enable me. If you give me that, I have everything”.

My hope for you is, that you will pray “use me” prayers, the kind that take you out of your comfort zone. He has a great adventure that awaits you, if you will simply say yes to being used by him!

What is God asking you to say yes to today?