Ability or Anointing?

I had the opportunity to speak to a small group recently about my experiences working with children. I had several fun stories and testimonies about how God comes down into the lives of even the youngest kids.

What I want to talk about today, however, is something I added almost as an aside. “Let me tell you a secret,” I said. “I’m really not that good at this naturally. What I am, for whatever reason, is anointed for it.”

And that’s the truth. I enjoy working with kiddos, and have had a desire to work with kids with special needs for a long time. But simply liking an activity doesn’t make you good at it. I have struggled with paperwork, classroom management, organization and other aspects of teaching. Yet I've had several people remark on my skills as a teacher.

The difference is that, as much as I’ve loved kids, I’ve loved God more, and continued to put Him first. As I've done so, He's given me the ideas, insight, patience, and understanding I need to excel at this work.

It has nothing to do with skill or earning it. I don’t know if it even has anything to do with destiny. There are many others out there more capable, more organized, more educated, and more experienced than I am.

But when He opens up opportunities, I grab them, regardless of whether or not I’m qualified. When I refuse to rely on myself, my skills, or my abilities, and instead abandon myself into His capability, His wisdom, and His strength, He pours out abundance.

I’ve simply become a daughter who’s always throwing myself after my Father into whatever He’s doing, with faith He’ll catch me. And He does every time.