I think I can safely say that we all have insecurities. There is probably at least one thing about you that if given the chance you would change. I know for myself, I tend to be incredibly shy. I will always remember an evaluation a professor in graduate school gave to me. He said that while He enjoyed my papers that I turned in, my shyness exasperated him. Exasperated; that is a strong word. There have been many prayers I have offered to God asking Him why He created me as shy as He did. I am not a naturally social person. In fact, during seminars in graduate school, I would often have to have a little conversation in my head before class (I hope I am not the only one who has had conversations with themselves in their head). I would tell myself ‘Kimberli you have to speak at least three times during seminar today.’ And I would literally count the number of times I spoke and once I hit three times, I would not say another word during the course of the seminar. A little embarrassing to admit, but my insecurities definitely lie in my shyness.
I gave this illustration because God can use you in areas that you would never have picked. I am amazed that Ben ever gave me a chance to speak. When I first moved to
I think of King David, who is my favorite person in the Bible to study, if anyone could have insecurities it was him. The youngest child, David’s own father did not even think he could be the next king. Yet that is who God used. Moses, he did not have the ability to speak, but God was telling him, ‘it is your voice I want to use.’ So many other examples of people in the Bible who God used regardless of their own insecurities.
I don’t know what God is planning on doing through you. I don’t know the plans He has for your life. I don’t know the things He wants to do. But I want to encourage you not to let your insecurities get in the way. God might just have something that you would never have picked for yourself. And so I encourage you if someone asks you to do something, do it. It is so easy to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others. God has created each of us perfect, He has made no mistakes. Sometimes we look at certain individuals and we say ‘wow, I could never be like that, I could never do what they are doing as good as they do it.’ And in doing so, we minimize the beauty of ourselves. I want to encourage you, as I encourage myself, to let go of your insecurities. If you have been asked to speak, even if you are shy, I encourage you to speak. If you have been asked to lead a ministry, even if you have never led a ministry, I encourage you to lead. If you have been asked to teach Sunday School, even if you don’t feel you know enough of the Bible, I encourage you to lead Bible Study.
I also want to encourage those who are trying to find your place in God. Maybe you have so many hidden insecurities; you don’t know how God can ever use you. I pray that my example serves as encouragement to you. When I was 18 I would never have said that God was going to use my voice. I was so shy. Yet here I am almost 27 and that is what God has done. God used me in an area I would never have imagined. God can use you too in an area that you would never have picked for yourself. And the awesome thing is that in the end God gets all the glory, and you will never forget that it was He who brought you to the place that He did.
Lord we come before you so honored that you would even know our name. In this world there are millions upon millions of people, but you know every hair on our head. You know our thoughts, you know our worries, you know our desires, and you know our needs. It is such a privilege to be called a child of the King. God you are our everything. We are completely lost without you. Above everything our desire is you. Lord we thank you for protecting us, protecting us from danger, protecting us from illness, protecting us from hurts. Lord we thank you for seeing past our faults, seeing past our mistakes. Lord we thank you because there are times when doubt, and insecurity cloud the child you have created us. Your Word tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and it tells us that before we were in our mother’s womb you knew us. And we thank you for that. Lord we can’t love you enough, we can’t praise you enough, and words can’t describe what you mean to us. You are all that we need, all that we want, all that we desire. Without you, our life would be meaningless. God it amazes us that you care about each and every one of us. It amazes us that you know the plans and the purpose for our life. We might all go down different roads, we might all do different things, but the things you have for each and every one of us is so great. We can’t love you enough God.
Lord let your light shine so brightly through us. Let us be the oracle for you. We might not know whose life we are impacting, but God minister through us. Help us smile at the lady in the grocery store, she might be feeling lonely and our smile is what is going to get her through. Help us laugh with our co-worker, they might be going through an incredibly difficult time, but laughter is all that they need. Help us ask our neighbor if they need prayer, they might be having marital problems, and have been searching for someone to pray for them. Help us go up to that widow, she might be incredibly lonely right now, and just needs to know that someone loves her. Lord place people in our hearts for us to pray for them. You know the young person who is crying themselves to sleep because they can’t get over their past, you know the mother who is worried about her son but who smiles to mask the pain, you know the wife whose husband is not serving you, you know everyone’s needs. Lord we don’t need to know what they are going through, but daily place people in our thoughts, people we can send cards to, people we can call, people we can email just to let them know that we are there for them and that we are praying for them. Lord help us forgive those who have wronged us. You forgave those who crucified you and so help us forgive those who have hurt us. God remove those scars that are embedded in our heart. The pains and the hurts that have built up over the years, remove them. Lord help us not to worry about the things we can not control. Help us trust in your perfect plan and will. Help us smile when we are full of sorrow. Help us laugh when we are full of pain.
Lord help us to live for you more and more each day. Let each day be a day of praise and of thanksgiving. Let us remember each day who we serve. Lord a day should not go by where we don’t devote time to you. Sometimes our work, our school, our commitments take over and we don’t give you the time you deserve. We go about our life and we forget to seek you, we forget to call you, we forget to abide in your presence. Lord help us each day carve some time out for you. Help us make you our priority. Lord help us remember that you are our master, you are our saviour, you are our helper, you are our deliverer, you are our healer, you are our rock, you are our salvation, you are our guiding light.