Exactly 10 years ago today I was getting ready to step out in faith and do something simply because God told me to. Not because there would be financial gain, popularity, or increase of absolutely anything. I felt I had nothing to gain by doing what I was about to do, but I knew God has asked me to do it.
What was I doing 10 years ago today? Preparing to host my first ever devotional. And I was NOT excited about it in the slightest.
Our 3 kids were in middle school and we had just sold everything we owned and moved to a little beach cottage in Southern California. We had drastically simplified our lives and stepped away from the cluttered rush life had previously become. The last thing I was looking for was something more to add to my plate. The last thing I desired was a long term commitment that would stretch me so far beyond the confines of my comfort zone that I would lose sight of what was once even comfortably normal.
But that’s exactly what would happen.
It was one of the few times I can tell you I heard the voice of God. Not in an audible sense, but it was deep within my spirit, and it said something I know I would have never said. This voice within said, “Start leading devotionals.”
Now you see, I wouldn’t have said that because honestly, I didn’t even know what a devotional really was. I didn’t read them and I certainly didn’t write them. This didn’t come from me, but it was directed to me. Start leading devotionals.
I was 100% convinced it was God, and I was also convinced he was wrong. So, I made a deal. I agreed to lead a devotional call for 1 week out of obedience, with the intention of proving I wasn’t the girl for the job. I would dismiss myself from the calling as soon as God saw I wasn’t capable of whatever this “devotional” thing was.
One week, God, you get one week.
That day my husband took me to Barnes and Noble and I found the Christianity section. That was new to me. I had never been in that section before. A little green book with trees on the front stood out to me. It was a 365 day devotional by Joyce Meyer, titled “Power Thoughts Devotional”. I walked out with my example of a devotional in my hand, and I went home to figure out how I was going to write 5 of these for the next week, and be done with it.
I opened the book and found words I could have never written. Scriptures I didn’t know. Teachings that spoke to me, but I could never speak them myself. So, with a deadline of 5 am the next morning nearing for my first live devotional, I did the only thing I knew to do … I plagiarized.
That morning, 10 years ago, I dialed in to host the first ever live devotional on conference call. There were about 20 others on the call, waiting to hear what God had given me. I would love to say I at least added my own stories and examples to it, but I didn’t. I didn’t know how. I was in way over my head, trying to be obedient to answer a call I was certain had the wrong number.
I 100% read the first devotional, word for word, and cried my way through it. I prayed a prayer I felt totally unqualified to pray. After 7 minutes of sheer misery, I ended the call and said “God, I told you I’m not your girl. Do we really have to do this again tomorrow?”
I continued to plagiarizer from Joyce Meyer’s book for a few weeks. And let me tell you what eventually started happening … the words I was reading started getting down into my soul. Those “Power Thoughts Devotionals” started changing my thoughts, and I started believing maybe God wasn’t looking for the most talented girl in the room, maybe he was looking for the available girl in the room.
10 years later, I can tell you that is all God has ever asked of me. To simply be available. Not to know all the answers. Not to always get it right. Not to always feel like it or even be great at it, but to always be available.
What could God do in the life of a girl like you if you would declare your life as available? Oh, Sis, you just have no idea! You have no idea what he could strengthen and empower you to do. You have no idea what gifts he could stir up in you that you didn’t even know you had. You have no idea how his power could flow through you to do things you’ve never done before.
But, don’t you want to know? Don’t you want to know what your life could become if you were just available?
You may have been so busy telling God you’re not it, that you’ve completely missed the fact that he can make you it! God’s spirit within you can give you more confidence than you ever imagined possible. You could start seeing his Spirit at work within you, and you could be completely blown away that somehow this is coming through you!
Do you need a special degree? Do you need a long list of talents? Do you need experience? No, Sis, you need one thing … an available space for God to fill. That’s it, just availability.
Consider your life like a big building. You have different rooms in this building for different purposes. Now suppose one of those rooms is empty and you decide to lease it out. A tenant moves into the available room, now they are part of the building. If they’re blasting music, the whole building hears the music. If they set fire to their room, the whole building could burn down. That one room eventually impacts your entire building.
God is just asking for one room in your busy life. One little space to come in and occupy. That’s all I gave him. I gave him a 1 week commitment to do these devotionals, when I didn’t even know what a devotional was. I gave him 15 minutes of my day, with a short leash. And pretty soon, he took over my whole building. My whole life was changed. All because I made a little space available for him.
Hebrews 13:21 “May he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him.”
I know this much for sure, every single time you make yourself available, he will equip you! He will produce good things in your life through the power of Jesus working in you, and they will be things you could have never done on your own.
Honey, this isn’t about how good you are, this is solely about how available you are! God is only looking for an available vessel for his power. His power will do the equipping in any life with space for him. Any building that offers him a room will be radically transformed, one space at a time.
And here’s the crazy thing, once you start experiencing God’s power working within you to do his good works, you actually start desiring those things. I had no desire to wake up at 4 am and write devotionals. I had no desire to speak to 20 people live on a conference call, let alone millions of people around the world at this point. I was NOT the girl to pray out loud because I would cry my way through the entire thing, and y’all, I’m an ugly crier. Now, 10 years later, only God could convince me to not get up and do this today!
No, I didn’t want to be doing this. I had no clue what in the world I was doing. (Well, actually that’s not true, I knew for the first few weeks I was plagiarizing off good ol’ Joyce, and I’ve repented of that.) I showed up for no other reason than to prove God had called the wrong girl. But every time I showed up, God proved he would equip this girl.
And my friend, he will do the same for you! Every time you show up, he will equip you. And as he equips you, the craizest thing will happen. Your desires will change!
Philippians 2:13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
I dare you to show up for God today! I dare you to declare available space in your life today! Watch and see him not only equip you, but to change your desires!
This is what changes the girl who once only desired another drink, to desire helping other women find their sobriety.
This is what changes the girl who once lived in bondage, to show others how to live in freedom.
This is what changes the girl who once never had enough to make it through, to be the girl living in abundance with the most ridiculously generous heart you’ve ever seen.
God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases him. And all he needs to do all this work is an available space in your life.
Won’t you simply declare, “God I am available.”
I have 15 minutes of available space for you. Start there. Let him occupy that space and rock your entire life!
That’s exactly what he did for me, and he wants to do it for you!
Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com