Shortly after forgiving Anthony, I closed one of my letters to him with this:
I pray for God’s will in your life, and that He uses you where you are for His purposes to further the Gospel! Be an ambassador right where you are! Be sure not to waste your life in there. I believe we’re all placed right where we’re supposed to be. I was listening to a sermon by John Piper the other day…what was so prominent about this particular sermon was his call for all God’s children to not waste their lives. Most of us do, and that’s a tragedy. Just because you’re in prison, doesn’t mean that you’ve wasted your life. Allow the Spirit of God to use you in there to transform lives according to His will!!! Do not let my dad’s death be in vain. Do not let your life be in vain. God wants to use you!
I hope you are well.
Take care and God bless,
Laurie
It’s a profound truth to be told that no matter what situation you find yourself in, you can still be used by God. Nothing that we do, no sin that we commit can disqualify us from serving Jesus. This truth is controversial. It’s counter-cultural. And it can seem ludicrous!
But God’s ways are not ours. I heard a pastor once say that God will continually fill that which we offer Him to fill. In other words, when we’re willing, when we lay ourselves down before the Lord and ask Him to use us, He does.
Each of us has a calling. Callings are not reserved for those who have it all together, or for those who seem to be the Christian elite, or even for those that some tout to be the “heroes” of the Bible. No. God has a call on each of our lives. The question is: Will you offer yourself up to be used?
Just as Pastor John Piper says, “Don’t waste your life!” Submit yourself to the Lord and you will begin to witness a powerful move of God in and through you!
{Nothing can disqualify you from serving the Lord.}
A powerful message and very true. We can feel worthless and with no purpose, how can we be used? Yet I have seen even in my illness where I see very few people and spend a lot of time in my bed or house bound, alone ,such a change from an active, working life. That if you are willing God can still use you. I followed God’s prompting to start a blog and at times God has brought someone to cross my path physically whom I can be a listening ear to and/or offer some advice due to being willing to help others and from my experience with illness/trauma. I could we all could retreat and feel sorry for ourselves but that is not God’s way and I thank God he has enabled me to resist that way of being and still be open to be used by him for him for others. Thank you.
It’s true. He will use us no matter our circumstances! I’m praying for healing for you…