030708

March 07, 2008

You Can Be a Blessing

by Shana Schutte

Do you doubt that God can use you to bless anyone, especially since your life has sometimes seemed like a mess? Be encouraged. In the book of Job, God shows how He can use the tragedy of one man's life to encourage many.

If you've read Job's story, you know that he lost his family, health and wealth. Have you ever considered that Job didn't know that God would record his tragedy in Scripture for humanity to read at a later date? And, have you considered that Job also didn't know his story of personal pain would be the reason many people would hope in God and His sovereignty?

In the same miraculous way, God can use your messes to show others about His glory, goodness, grace, love, sovereignty and power.

Perhaps you're thinking, But Shana, I'm not like Job because my tragedy isn't going to be written in the Bible. Yes, I've had some very bad things happen to me but no one has been helped because of it. In fact, my messes haven't helped one person.

If you doubt that God can use you to change the lives of others in spite of your disaster, it's important for you to hang onto Him until His blessings come. I'm not talking about financial prosperity, although God does promise to provide for all our needs. I'm talking about the redemption that can only come through pain to bless others.

This kind of redemption is what makes a counselor fantastic at what she does because she's been there and she knows how her clients feel. It's the redemption that makes a young entrepreneur an inspiration because of her perseverance through trials. This redemption is the reason a man who was homeless as child can give freely, because he knows what it's like to be hungry.

Yesterday as I spoke with a friend of mine, I told her that years ago I would not have been able to write about the things I do because I "just didn't have it in me." It's not that God hadn't given me the ability to successfully tackle the mechanics of writing; but I hadn't gone through enough fires and come out the other side to share anything of depth with others yet.

I can relate to author and speaker, Beth Moore, who was victimized as a child. Moore says that God uses her to bless others, not in spite of what has happened to her, but because of it.

So if you're looking back over your shoulder and your trials seem like a waste, hang onto God until He makes you a blessing. He is redeeming your pain. And even though He is not writing your story in the Bible, if you are willing, He will write it in the lives of others to change them for eternity.

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing." (Genesis 12:2)

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