God delights in leveraging weakness and minimizing power to get his work done. And as a Christian, you can do the same.
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SHAUNA: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope with a story from Joni about her friend Brittany.
JONI: Brittany is in her late 20’s and on weekends, she helps me get up in the morning. On weekdays, though, she works as an occupational therapist in a child-development center not far from where I live. Now, because she’s a skilled OT, I had been encouraging Brittany to go serve on a Wheels for the World team, help fit disabled people in wheelchairs, like you know in Africa or Asia. Well, Brittany learned that her church was partnering with our Wheels for the World outreach, so she decided to sign up for the team. After she got her shots and her visa, she was packed up and heading off to Uganda.
Now, helping American kids get adjusted in their wheelchairs is one thing, but helping African kids in an impoverished nation—that is quite another. And as I said, Brittany is an occupational therapist, she normally does not fit kids to wheelchairs; that’s the job physical therapists do. Well, the first day of the distribution was incredibly busy, so Brittany was assigned to help Veronica, a seasoned physical therapist who has served on many Wheels for the World trips. Veronica is a real leader and she involved Brittany right away, showing her how to measure a child’s hips, the length of his legs, assessing his ability to bend his knees or ankles; what kind of wheelchair would be needed, how to adjust the foot pedals or fashion a shoulder harness or side supports or Gerry-rig a headrest, all sorts of things to quickly learn and absorb. Well, after an hour or so of working on this child’s wheelchair, Veronica and Brittany placed him in his new set of wheels. Once a final inspection was conducted, Veronica turned to Brittany and said, “Okay, you’re on your own. There’s your next child, over there in line.”
Brittany looked at Veronica with surprise, like: ‘You want me to fit the next child by myself— on my own?’ She was tentative at first but realized in the next instant: this isn’t America. This is Africa, a place where you have to make do with what you got. So, Brittany prayed, “Lord Jesus, help me,” and she walked over to the next family with a smile and began assessing their little boy with cerebral palsy, just like she knew what she was doing. And within a few minutes, she was doing it! All her training in physiology and body mechanics and occupational therapy skills kicked in. And because of her training with Veronica, she was able to jump right in and properly fit that little boy to his new chair. And she was thrilled to be able to pray with the family and tell them about Jesus; and what do you know, Brittany discovered that she was a leader after all.
She learned that every opportunity is a chance for God to show his strength through her, just as it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Brittany did not think she had it in her to step into the shoes of someone like Veronica. But God always enjoys stretching us in ways that, at first, feel awfully uncomfortable. But he does that to force us beyond our natural abilities so that we might lean on his supernatural ability. And what do you know: the very things about us that we think are weaknesses become the platform for his strength. So now when Brittany thinks of leadership, she no longer leverages her strengths in order to minimize her weaknesses. No, she knows that God delights in leveraging weakness and minimizing power to get his work done. And as a Christian you can do the same. In fact, that’s what Brittany is doing right now as she heads off to her next Wheels for the World outreach.
SHAUNA: And friend, if you have a prayer request, go to joniradio.org and let us know how we can pray for you. Our Joni and Friends team would love to lift up your needs before the Lord. God bless you today and thank you for listening!
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