To Be Used By God

Usually biblical characters are held in high regard. Some say they wish they could be used by God like those in the Bible were without realizing that other that Jesus Christ, everyone else used by God in the biblical accounts had shortcomings.
 
Moses stuttered and had a temper - killing a man, smashing the tablets, and striking the rock              
Timothy had stomach problems.          
Jacob was a liar.       
David had an affair and a man murdered.     
Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children. 
Abraham was afraid and said twice that his wife was his sister to protect himself
Naomi was a poor widow.      
Jonah ran from God.    
Gideon and Thomas both doubted.     
Jeremiah was depressed.  
Elijah was burned out.         
Martha was a worrywart.              
Amos' training was in fig tree pruning.
John who was one of the  "sons of thunder" became the apostle of love.
 
Who does God use today?  He still uses some unlikely people.  A four year old girl whose father was going to sidewalk counseling at an abortion clinic. As he was leaving the house she gave him some cookies and told him to give them to a mommy so she could keep them and give them to her baby later on. Since dads have a hard time saying no to their little girls no matter what request they make, he took the cookies with him and gave then to a woman heading into the abortion clinic explaining that they were from his daughter and what she had said for the mother to do with them. The woman burst into tears realizing that if she had an abortion she would never be able to give her baby anything - and a life was saved.
 
How about the mother of the bride who got to the church one Saturday morning to find the heat so high all of the flowers had died?  There was not enough time to get more. She prayed that God would send her to someone who would give her some flowers and walked outside of the church and saw a house with magnolia trees. Timidly, she rang the bell. An elderly man answered and she told him her situation and asked if she could have some magnolias. He was thrilled, and gave her all she could use. She told him that he had made the mother of the bride very happy. He said no, she had been a blessing to him. His wife of sixty-seven years had died on Monday. The funeral was on Wednesday. On Thursday the out-of-town relatives had left, and on Friday he children had gone home. He told her that that morning he had been crying and felt that no one needed an eighty-six year old man. Then you came to my door and needed me.  He went on to tell her that as he had been handing her the flowers he realized that he was needed and could have a ministry of sharing flowers to people in nursing homes, hospitals, and funeral homes when there were no flowers for a funerals.
 
Or, a small boy who took his Bible story book to a plumber working in his home and asked the plumber to read a story to him. The plumber ended up talking to the boy's mother who shared the gospel with him, and he was saved.
 
Sometimes God uses children in unusual circumstances like those in Romania when the Russian army invaded. They went and played close to the Russian troops. Missing their own children back home, they would call the kids over and give them a piece of candy if they had one. Candy was rare during the war. The children would then say that they had gifts for the soldiers and gave them Bibles and gospel literature introducing some in the Russian army to the Savior. The children were really soldiers in God's army who were able to serve
the Lord where adults would be shot for approaching the Russian troops.
 
The list goes on and on.
 
Not all who witness live happily ever after. There are those like Jim Elliott, Nate Saint in the jungles of a mission field, and Rachel Scott a teenager who died in the library during the  Columbine High School shooting who was brave enough to look at another teenager pointing a gun at her and say, "Yes, I believe in Jesus. Thousands have dedicated their lives to the Lord because of them and others who lived their faith in God.
 
Our faults and failures does not stop God from using us.  He is not looking for perfect people. He looks for our willingness to be used.