How God Can Use Your Mistakes for His Glory

Even after years of following Jesus, I’m still slack-jawed by what God will use to speak to His people.

I found this to be particularly true this last weekend.

I had the privilege of teaching to a packed auditorium in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The room was warm and full, brimming with excitement. In the audience sat a woman who had been grappling with obedience to God. A native of the great state of Alabama, her husband had recently been offered a job in a neighboring town. But that town was across county lines.

Now crossing a county line may not be a big deal to you, but if you’re in the South that’s just not something you do lightly—if ever. Despite hesitance, this woman felt God nudging her to make the move, to cross the county line.

She told God, “If this is really you, I need you to give me a sign!”

Earlier in the week, I prepared a message based on Abram’s calling in Genesis 12:1 where the Lord instructs: “Get out from your country, from your family and from your father’s house to a land I will show you.” 

 

 

In the teaching, I emphasized the idea that sometimes we must get out of our current situation to gain a vision of the beautiful plan God has for us.

But somehow a typo had slipped through.

• Leif (my hubby) proofed the slides.
• Jessica (our office manager) proofed the slides.
• I proofed the slides.

None of us saw the missing “R.” Perhaps you missed it, too, on the image of the slide above. But the slide read: “Get out of your county.”

The woman who came the weekend conference prayerfully considered making the move got her sign.

And God used a typo to do it.

As I finished up Acts last week for the #LentChallenge, I was struck by the one thing that God kept asking his followers throughout the book:

Obedience.

• The Spirit told Philip: Climb into the chariot.  (Acts 8:29)
• The Lord told Paul: Arise and go into the city. (Acts 9:6)
• The Lord told Ananias: Go to Straight Street. (Acts 9:11)
• The Lord told Cornelius: Send for Peter. (Acts 10:5)
• The Lord told Peter: Kill and eat. (Acts 10:13)

Throughout the Book of Acts, we see God calling His faithful followers to acts that felt risky, strange, unthinkable. Yet through obedience, the good news of Jesus exploded and expanded beyond all previous bounds.

What is the ONE thing God is asking you to do today?

• Pastor that fledgling congregation.
• Love those precious children.
• Shine God’s love in your workplace.
• Take extra time with your neighbors.
• Break the silence with a friend.
• Cross those county lines.

By all means, do it, do it, do it. Don’t wait.