Has God called you to do something that you felt unqualified to do? I bet many of us have had that experience.

When God led me to start Sunny Skies Ahead, I was terrified and convinced I had misheard Him. Questions swirled in my head: What will this look like? What will people think? And how will I even start?

God gives us examples in the Bible of people who felt the same way when called to a big task. Before he became the first King of Israel, Saul was out looking for his father’s lost donkeys. The next thing he knows, Samuel is anointing him as the King. Wow, what a strange turn of events that must have been.

Saul was surprised, to be sure, but his humility was a form of disbelief. Disbelief ultimately led him to walk in disobedience. God had a mission for Saul, but he continually stumbled over his baggage (not the suitcase kind), the kind that we all have… insecurity, jealousy, arrogance, impulsiveness (otherwise known as sin). And he could not overcome it or commit himself wholeheartedly to God.

As a result, Saul was an epic failure as a king.

In contrast, a man named Nehemiah also had a call on his life- to rebuild the shambled walls of Jerusalem. The exiles had been back in their city for several years, but the walls were still unrepaired leaving it defenseless.

Nehemiah began by praying to God, repented of his sin and that of his people, and obtained permission from the Persian king he served to leave and begin his project.

This was a man on a mission! He galvanized workers to help him, brushed aside naysayers, and completed the task in 52 days.

He was fully aware that God enabled him to accomplish this enormous task.

I pray that my mindset can be like that of Nehemiah’s. Despite my self-doubt, my fear of failure, and the nagging lies the enemy throws my way, I will step into the calling the Lord has placed on my life.

May I not continue to trip over my own baggage and miss the mission altogether.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10