Equipping

Tonight I found myself in a very uncomfortable situation. I was invited to a coffee as an opportunity to meet some other women. The woman hosting the coffee is Colombian with very good English. Yet I still missunderstood the exact nature of the evening. I wondered about a coffee in the late afternoon so it made sence when I arrived that horderves and wine were being served. A small group of women were seated around the coffee table chatting - in Spanish. As the conversation progressed through the evening the woman next to me spoke English and gave me glimpses of the conversation. All the women were Colombian and all were professionals. I understood the graciousness of the hostess to have invited me to this social evening but inside I wanted to crawl up in a little ball and close my eyes. I felt so inaddequate among this group of polished women. My fingernails are broken from washing the floor. My hair needs a trim because I've not braved trying to get it cut. My conversation is with teenagers throughout the day. I felt like the frumpy middle aged housewife. These things are my place of comfort and a far world from the life these women live.

As I worked hard to understand a word here and there, the women all expressed kindness to me through their smiles and an English word here and there. One thing that was clear to me is that it was a gift to be where I was, in the company of these women.

I don't typically understand God and the way he works or the people he chooses to do certain tasks. My heart has always yearned for the poor. To serve them with my hands and feet, yet here I was in the most contrasting situation I could imagine and for some reason God had placed me here. Confucius said "To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice." I know what is right. It is right to serve the poor, but it is also right to serve and love those God puts in our lives. I am way out of my comfort zone on this one but it seems often that is the way God works. He stretches us and molds us to show himself through us in the most unlikely situations. Someone once said "God does not call the equipped; He equips the called." Somehow God has a way to equip me in each situation he brings my way.

I encourage you today to look for those situatuions in which you feel inadequate. Don't run from them but alow God to stretch you and use you in them.