When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.

Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
Acts 3:3-7

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5

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I have a vivid memory: My brother and I were sharing a room. I was 7-years-old, and he was 6. It was late, and we had been sleeping for a while. My dad woke us to say goodnight and goodbye. I remember feeling disoriented, and when I got older, I realized it was because my parents’ emotions were off—they were amped up. When he left, my mom said to us, “He isn’t coming back.” Our lives were never the same after that. For years it felt like a dramatized novel of arguing, and family time became a pawn in the chess game that was my parents’ decade-long divorce. If my dad didn’t meet the right conditions, we didn’t get to see him. 

It took a long time to overcome the model I had learned to live by: “If I have the right goods, the right gifts, the right talents—if I am or do enough, then I am needed, then I can be loved.” How many times do you feel like you don’t fit somewhere because you don’t have what you believe are the right qualities or the right amount to contribute? 

It’s ironic that the most therapeutic answer to correct that way of thinking was to discover that I am capable of NOTHING on my own. John 15:5 was a game-changer. That verse told me three things: 1) I am part of God’s family and nothing can change that; 2) Living by His Spirit is the only way I’ll ever move forward in life; 3) Without God, I can accomplish nothing worthwhile. 

It doesn’t matter how much money we have, what we’re good at, or the amount we can contribute to any situation—we’re all under the same grace and the same call to live by God’s Word and Spirit. Any blessings we can bring are brought through us by God. We all have the one thing God wants us to bring to Him and to all the spaces we love, live, work and serve in: ourselves. 

Next Steps

• If you’re thinking about serving and don’t think you’re gifted enough, or if you want to give, but don’t think the amount you have is enough, just show up, God will do the rest.
• Understanding what God may be calling us to can feel overwhelming sometimes. Reading the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:1-12, was a great place for me to start, and it’s still where I go when I’m not sure what’s next. It’s a great reminder of how we’re called to live irrespective of what we have to give.
• I recently heard the song, Bless God, and can’t stop listening to it! I hope it inspires you as it did me to lean more into how God calls us to live and reminds us that He deserves all our praise because of how He blesses us in the calling.