HOW AVAILABLE ARE YOU?
Down through the ages God has taken the most unlikely people to do extraordinary things. He took a man with a speech impediment to talk to powerful people. He took a beautiful girl to face great odds to protect her people. He guided a wanderer with misguided morals to become a father of nations because of his great faith. He used a relative of this man to fall in the lineage of His one and only Son through unnatural means according to our culture today.

In the New Testament, he took men who did physical labor and some who were not well liked to begin His church. He shaped a man that rebelled against the Way to grow His church throughout all nations. He did miraculous signs and miracles through His Son to show His love and power. God did all this so that He might use each of us, to point the way to His Son.

I have heard; "I have no special talents; I can’t sing or speak; I can’t teach and don’t have the time to be a helper." I have heard many excuses as to why a person cannot be effective in God’s Kingdom. I have heard many say; "I wish I could to that, or I wish I knew how to say those things". I believe you really don’t know if you can do anything unless you give it a try. I am not saying that God helps those who help themselves, but I am saying that a person who is willing to try can be used of God.

Writing a simple letter or sending a birthday card, a greeting card, a thank you note works wonders in the life of an elderly person. A phone call once in a while to share a memory can make someone’s day. Sharing a prayer over the phone can mean all the world to someone in need. I have to admit that I am the worst when it comes to doing some of these things. As I get older I see the importance of these sentiments and kindnesses. Why? Because I appreciate being on the receiving end.

Last year I sent a birthday card to a lady that our family grew to love so many years ago. I would get to see her once in a great while and it would warm my heart to hear her say my name. At 88, she responded to my card and note, which included a handkerchief which was a custom of many years ago, with a hand written letter. What she did for me was far more than what I did for her in this long over due communication. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your beautiful birthday gift to me. Your letter took me back to the many years, when I had the privilege and blessing of getting to know and associate with your Mom and your mothers dear family".

Jessie worked with my Mom! Although my mother was older than Jessie they both had school age children. Throughout her letter she praises my Mom! Wow! Nothing can lift a persons spirits than to hear good things about those we love. Jessie continues with; "God is so good. We have a wonderful loving, caring and faithful God, who holds us by our right hand and carries us through life".

God doesn’t pick and choose, he uses all that comes His way. Some are up front; Some are in the shadows; Some are the strong, unbending pillars and some are those who clean up; Many are behind the scenes with smiles and pats on the backs. The encouragers; those who can cry and those whose laughter is infectious. God uses the baby that needs to be held to the child with scuffed knees; God brings unlikely persons and binds them together in love; We embrace and hold the hands of the aged and give them a thumbs up. "I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men!" Titus 3:8. Paul is encouraging us through Christ and the Holy Spirit to do service, not for salvation but because of His mercy and justification.
Nothing is too small or unlikely, that God can’t use it for a big impact in His Kingdom. Jane Ann