Day 1: Dare to dream: “Here I am Lord. Send me.”

Our dreams for God start with willingness and availability, not with expertise, skills, appropriate qualifications, or even specific opportunities. Our job is to state our availability to God and give over to him the responsibility for using us in his plans. Isaiah felt inadequate and sinful when God called him. Moses had a stutter. Mary was young and unmarried, and Elizabeth too old to have children. None of them were given much detail about exactly how God wanted to use them, but they all made themselves available to God, and He did amazing things through them.

When I began reaching out to homeless people and women involved in sex work on the streets of Bristol, I was middle-aged, had spent many years as a struggling single parent, and had no qualifications or experience for this type of work. On paper, I was not in any way an ideal candidate! I wasn’t even confident about relating to people on the margins of society. But I had seen a need, and compassion had begun to stir in me. One day in church, the preacher spoke about this passage in Isaiah, and it resonated in me. I said to God, in my heart, “here I am – send me.” And that was the beginning of an extraordinary story!

We trust in a God who has good plans for us, both as individuals and as a church. God wants us to prosper in the widest sense, and he wants us to help others prosper. We won’t always know what God is planning for us or how he will achieve his plans. If we start by trusting his goodness and offering ourselves, however inadequate we think we are, he will do the rest.

Reflect: What’s on your heart? What do you feel moved about? What are your dreams and desires for being used by God? Are you letting any feelings of inadequacy hold you back? If so, let go, and trust God with your willingness.

Prayer: Lord, I am here. I’m not saying I’m amazing, perfect, or even necessarily good at the thing I want to do – but I’m available. I want to bring your love and your healing to the world around me. I want to be part of your plan of salvation for the world. Please use me. Open my eyes to see what you are doing and how to play my part in it.