We all have tremendous potential within us, and we all have something threatening to cripple that potential. I wonder what your potential is. You know, you are world class at something. Your unique design is for the purpose of being absolutely phenomenal in some way. The thing is, you may not have even discovered it yet, but the potential is still inside of you. Your creator is using every detail of your life to release that potential.

Now recolonize, sometimes the releasing of potential only comes in the form of pressure. You have no idea just how strong you are until your only option is to be strong. You don’t know what’s inside of you until your pride is ripped wide open and your plans are ripped apart.

Ahhhh, that’s what it is sister. You’re in the unveiling process. The unveiling of your potential. You’re about to see what your creator placed inside of you. It’s beautiful and it’s powerful and all this time it has been hidden.

But this potential has the threat of being crippled. Yes, being held back and unable to perform it’s full intended function. What has crippled your potential?

I know about being crippled. There was a time in my life when I COULDN’T get out of bed. My legs no longer worked. I couldn’t feed myself. My arms no longer worked. I couldn’t speak. My mouth drooped and words could not be found. My brain had suffered injury in a stroke and I was crippled. All that I had once done with ease was gone in an instant.

There, laying in that hospital bed, I appeared crippled, but I was still FULL OF POTENTIAL.

You want to know why I’m jarringly excited about a new day of life every darn day, THIS IS WHY! (It’s still my favorite review on iTunes, a slightly irritated listener who couldn’t handle my morning pep referred to me as jarring. I’m not hating, I appreciate her honesty and it still makes me giggle. I am jarring, but dang I can’t be boring after what I experienced!)

Want to know why I have crazy energy the moment my feet hit the floor every morning, THIS IS WHY! By God’s grace and divine touch, I’ve overcome the thing that threatened to cripple me and I’m getting to experience my potential.

I get to see these once crippled legs can run marathons. I get to see this body that once couldn’t get out of bed can now climb mountains. These eyes that once went blind and couldn’t focus get to see the beauty of the horizon as I jump out of an airplane at 14,000 feet. These hands that couldn’t hold a spoon to feed myself can hold a paddle while whitewater rafting. And this mouth that couldn’t form words can now speak to thousands as they each greet their new day of life.

That was always my potential, but you couldn’t see it when I was crippled. I couldn’t even imagine it at the time, but it was there.

Now, let’s talk about your potential. Oh girl, there is a world of potential inside of you. How do I know? Because I know your creator. As a follower of Christ, I know the spirit who now lives within you. There’s no question of the potential in you. No stronghold could hold you back. No chain can bind you. No darkness can put out your light … unless you let it!

Remember the story of the crippled man laying at the pool of Bethesda? He had been crippled for 38 years. He was laying by this pool of water because every day when the pool was stirred, the first person to get in the water would be healed. Day after day he lay there, hoping for a healing. Hoping to overcome that which had crippled him. But he couldn’t pull himself into the water before the others, so years passed as nothing changed.

That is, until Jesus showed up.

John 5: 6-9 “When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” “I can’t sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking.

This man always had the potential inside of him. For 38 years he lay there crippled, yet the potential to walk again remained. One thing unleashed his potential once again … an encounter with Jesus.

My sister, that’s all you need. An encounter with Jesus.

There will always be a threat to your potential. A crippling of all you were created to do. Yes, sometimes in comes in the form of a health issue, but more commonly it is a fear of failure that holds you back. It’s a fear of judgment that keeps you cornered. An overwhelming concern of what others may think or may say. A past regret, guilt or shame. An unhealed hurt. Or maybe if you’re being honest it’s a laziness deep inside of you that cripples you most. An unwillingness to stick with things long enough to actually work. A wishy washy commitment that always leaves you going backward instead of forward. A bad habit you keep picking back up.

So I ask again, what is crippling your potential? What has you stuck where you are living a life less than you were created for?

Jesus is asking you the same question as the crippled man at the pool of water, “WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET WELL?”

Think about that. Of course your knee jerk reaction is “yes”. But what would getting well cost you? It would strip you of any pity you’ve received in the past. Let’s face it, pity is a powerful drug. Playing pitiful gets us what we want immediately and gives us the ultimate excuse from pushing any harder. Are you willing to give up playing the pity card? I mean really, you’re not the only one who has gotten sick, or gone through divorce, or had a wayward child, experienced loss, or going through a ridiculously hard time. I don’t intend to sound harsh, but me offering you pity does nothing more than cripple you more.

Would you like to get well?

There’s no doubt Jesus healed my body. There’s no medical explanation for the things my body can do after the stroke I had. But I want to tell you about my young, newlywed husband. At the time I was 19 and he was 21. We were all alone, over a thousand miles from any family. And he offered me POWER over PITY. Not one time did he feel sorry for me. Not once did he come in and save me from doing the simple things that were now so difficult for me. Not once did he let me lay in bed and wallow in what had happened to me. He helped me see I could be powerful, or I could be pitiful, but I couldn’t be both.

I chose POWER, and it’s made a world of difference.

When we choose pity in our pitiful situation, we are essentially telling Jesus, “nahhhh, I’ll just stay here.” Would you like to get well? “not today, you see being pitiful allows me to sit here and put forth no effort of my own.”

How about that encounter with Jesus to unleash your potential? How about overcoming the thing that has threatened to cripple you? Are you ready? I mean really ready? Because just as the man at the pool had to stand up and give up his position of pity for 38 years, you’re going to have to give up a few things too.

Honey, of course you can’t be healthy drinking your Diet Mountain Dew and eating your ice cream. Honey, of course you can’t live in financial freedom with all 20 of your monthly subscriptions to absolute nonsense. Honey, of course you can’t be happily married as you dabble in flirty conversations and dream of greener grass.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET WELL?

There’s something you need to do here. There’s a threat to your God given potential. Identify it and don’t settle for being crippled here! Partner with Jesus and follow him as you rise up and step into the potential for your great big beautiful life.