minister<\/a>\u00a0not out of their strengths but out of real weakness. Isn\u2019t that how God himself ministered to the world?<\/p>\nSo it is with us. God gives each individual singular gifts, but those talents can only be poured out onto the world through the cracks in our lives. Why do we think we need to be in a better place, spiritually, geographically, financially, professionally, before God can use us? He can\u2019t leak out of those who think they have it all together. It\u2019s right now, out of our own brokenness in this place, that God seeps out of us and into the world.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of the divine paradox. God gives us gifts, and\u00a0we offer our talents, the work we do with our hands, our minds, back to God.\u00a0 This act is the very way God himself meets the needs of our community. Martin Luther writes, \u201cGod . . . hides himself in the ordinary social functions and stations of life, even the most humble. God himself is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid.\u201d In our everyday common work, doing that which we may not even recognize as a particular gift, we bring God to those we serve through our own humility and brokenness.<\/p>\n
It may be an encouraging word to a colleague, a hearty handshake when meeting a neighbor. It may be a project well done at work, a warm tone of voice when answering the phone, a line of gratitude in an email.<\/p>\n
It may be startlingly simple. Because human gifts ebb and flow and fail, and we really only have one true Gift to offer.\u00a0 To offer in our work, our words, our daily ways, \u201cHere, all I have to give is Christ.\u201d He hides himself in all we do so that even the simple, the daily, is enough.<\/p>\n
And the truth is, God may never choose to bestow that talent we yearn for, that valued position we jockey for. He may never choose to give even arms or legs. But isn\u2019t that the point? God has a plan and it\u2019s his, not ours. We may be very receptive to God using us in the ways we imagine, but are we open to the way God wants to use us? He has a unique and distinctive vision for each of us. And it involves using us today, exactly as we are, where we are, doing what we do. For if we can\u2019t serve God in this day, in this work, in this brokenness, when will we?<\/p>\n
I watch Nick maneuver his wheelchair down a sidewalk. The last I see of him, he\u2019s smiling. Turning towards my husband, I murmur lingering angst. \u201cDo you think he ever gets depressed?\u201d
\nMy husband\u2019s quiet words echo long, \u201cI\u2019d think it\u2019d be most depressing for him to see all of us who\u2019ve been given much and don\u2019t use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have arms. I have legs. I\u2019m broken. I\u2019m in this place with these people. I have Christ. It\u2019s important to be open to the way God wants to use you. It could be as simple, as wonderful, as smiling.\u00a0 It could begin now.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image by\u00a0Simply Darlene<\/a>. Used with permission. Post by\u00a0Ann Voskamp<\/a>\u00a0originally published at TheHighCalling.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother\u2019s arms. She held a blunt torso. Her firstborn had no arms. No legs. No limbs. Just this one twisted flap of flesh, a foot flipper. She swaddled him close and prayed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1712,"featured_media":1511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[335,123,334],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocation","tag-nick-vujicic","tag-purpose","tag-value"],"yoast_head":"\n
God Wants to Use You<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother's arms. She held a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God Wants to Use You\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother's arms. She held a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The High Calling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-19T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-18T16:34:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/406\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The High Calling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The High Calling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/\",\"name\":\"God Wants to Use You\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-19T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-18T16:34:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b\"},\"description\":\"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother's arms. She held a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"God Wants to Use You\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/\",\"name\":\"The High Calling\",\"description\":\"Everyday conversations about work, life, and God\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b\",\"name\":\"The High Calling\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/author\/thehighcalling\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"God Wants to Use You","description":"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother's arms. She held a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"God Wants to Use You","og_description":"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother's arms. She held a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/","og_site_name":"The High Calling","article_published_time":"2015-05-19T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-05-18T16:34:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/406\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The High Calling","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The High Calling","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/","name":"God Wants to Use You","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-05-19T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-18T16:34:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b"},"description":"by Ann Voskamp Nick Vujicic tells his story. The morning of December 4, 1982, moments after his birth, they laid him in his mother's arms. She held a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"God Wants to Use You"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/","name":"The High Calling","description":"Everyday conversations about work, life, and God","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b","name":"The High Calling","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/author\/thehighcalling\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"god-wants-to-use-you\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/406\/2015\/05\/god-wants-to-use-you-300x187.jpg\")
by Ann Voskamp<\/em><\/p>\n