“What’s In Your Hand?”

Valerie Cullers 21 Comments

In my last post, I talked about finding our gifts and talents. So what happens when we do know what our gifts and talents are? Can we just move forward and find a path that will help us express them and use them for the benefit of others? Sometimes the way is clear, but at other times it is blocked, and many times we are the one’s blocking it. How do we block our own path forward? Through Self-Disqualification. 

What is Self-Disqualification? It is where we tell ourselves we cannot move in a certain direction because we either do not have the resources, qualifications, or we believe our past has disqualified us. Let’s look at each reason and let’s take them in reverse order.

Our Past: We disqualify ourselves and keep ourselves from moving forward because we have made some mistakes in our past. We tell ourselves, “Surely God cannot use someone like me.” This is the height of self-negation and it does not take into account the grace and mercy of God: the God of Second Chances. Let’s look at a few examples of people God used in spite of their mistakes: Moses killed a man and fled the country he was living in. God called him to become the leader of his people and help bring them out of slavery. Joseph spent considerable time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Pharaoh took him from prison and made him the second in command in Egypt. David committed adultery and had the woman’s husband killed when he found out the woman was pregnant. God used these men in spite of the mistakes they had made or the places they found themselves. If he could use them, he can surely use us.

Our Qualifications: It is true that many times we don’t at the moment have the qualifications to do the job we aspire to do. That said, it will take some time and effort to find the right school, internship, or training we need. Remember, no one is born qualified. Each of us must find a way to get qualified if we want to pursue a certain career path or area of giftedness.

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The Resources: Granted we all need some resources to move forward. We may need a grant, scholarship or loan in order to get more training. We many need money for transportation if we want to volunteer somewhere and get our training that way. We all need something. But here’s the deal, each of us has something we can use to begin right where we are. How do I know this? Let’s look at one of the examples I used earlier. When God called Moses, he was living on the backside of the desert herding sheep.  Moses gave God all these reasons why he couldn’t do what he was being asked to do. Finally, God said to him, “What do you have in your hand?” Moses told him it was a rod. God then had him use what he had in his hand to help him accomplish the task he was given.

So I would say to you? What do you have in your hand that you can use to get started on your journey? Is it a pen, pencil, artist’s pad, mop, broom, vacuum or laptop? Is it a mower, rake, shovel, steering wheel or cell phone? We all have something right where we are that can help us get started in the direction we need to go. So let’s take what we have, where we are and get started. The journey will be exciting. We don’t know where it will lead and who we will meet along the way. But sure as can be, we will never get there if we don’t take that first step! 

21 thoughts on ““What’s In Your Hand?””

  5. Excellent post Valerie! A good reminder that God has used many imperfect people, in fact, He only uses imperfect people. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

    ❤️carmen

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  8. I remember when I graduated in journalism and I confess I did not know what to do. the how, in theory was in the course, and then? it was when I read a text about music that I considered as “I would write exactly the same !, I discovered that my biggest opponent is myself.” and I started to write naturally.of course I stocked with information, readings, research.I believe our greatest gift , which we receive from God, is within us.

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  9. I find the more you use what you have, the more He gives you to use! Ever wonder at those people who have it all? They used what they had without fear and got more!

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  11. I tell myself “Kav, get out of your way.” Its true, we stunt our growth by berating ourselves, not being kind enough to ourselves when all we need is positivity and a leap of faith. As always Val, well said.😘

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