I have the privilege from time to time of receiving review copies of books for my blog from Hachette books and I just received a pretty great one called Gutsy by Natalie Franke. I think Ms. Franke’s target market is probably women based on some of the information held within, but there is a lot of gold in here for anyone who has a somewhat entrepreneurial spirit, and as such it really hit me. One particular quote reached right off the page and grabbed me. It said, 

“Every day, we are one raised hand away from an entirely different life.”

This statement is a great truth. Opportunities are out there for everyone, even you, to live an extraordinary, remarkable life. I believe they are available to you and me, and it is as if someone is standing there saying who will take advantage of this opportunity? When that happens, sometimes we need only to raise our hand. What about you? Is your hand up?

See too often we limit ourselves. We look at our qualifications rather than asking the questions, can I do that and do I want to? Of course the bigger question is, is God leading/calling me to this? I think sometimes we need a fundamental shift in our thinking from “Why would someone choose me?” To “Why not me?” 

I’ve lived in both worlds. For the longest time, I questioned my value and my worth. Some of that came from the opinions of others. A few rejections started to feel like everyone would reject me. And then there were the other times. When I was in youth ministry, I started using a teaching resource that I loved. I began to desire lessons on other topics than the ones that I was seeing, so I looked at their formatting and wrote my own lessons on the topics I needed to teach. I should probably mention that I was a volunteer leader in a small church in the middle of a corn field with ten to fifteen kids. Still something in me, made me think why not me? So I submitted my lessons and ended up on a group of writers that included published authors and even the youth pastor of one of the largest, most famous churches in the country. If I had started to look at the qualifications of my peers, I would have thought I didn’t belong in that group. Instead I realized teaching students is teaching students. I decided to share what I was coming up with and I ended up with an amazing opportunity.

After submitting art to the publishers of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, and getting several rejections, I ended up contacting a licensee of the Turtles, about a very part time job, that was not art related. I didn’t even know that they worked with the Turtles, but in our discussion, I mentioned that I enjoyed drawing and that I had been submitting designs to the Turtles publisher. The licensee gave me a shot and I ended up working on several projects for them. If I had let the rejections stop me, I would never have tried. 

My creative arts ministry started at a time where very few people even knew what arts ministry was. I started using art as a teaching tool, about the same time I was learning to build websites for my day job. I started sharing my ideas online and before long some folks started asking me to come and speak. This gave me the courage to approach other churches about possibly coming in to speak. In the beginning a lot of people didn’t know what to do with me, and I get the idea they thought it was a weird idea, but a few gave me a shot, and I tried to make the most of it. To say God has blessed this ministry would be something of an understatement.  My ministry to people with special needs started when I was speaking to the director of a camp about their ministry and saying, “I’m no sure I could do that but I would love to try.”

Each of these experiences, in one way or another built my confidence, and changed my life and do you know what they all have in common? I could have talked myself out of trying all of them by questioning my own qualifications, but instead, I raised my hand and said “I’ll try it.” None of it happened because I am really extraordinary. Mostly it was me seeing what I perceived as God opening a door, and deciding to walk through it. Do you want to change your life, ask God for open doors and raise your hand.