Not Remotely Qualified

Growing Daily

Not Remotely Qualified

The other day my mother-in-law got a distress call from her friend Lois. Lois’s TV remote wasn’t working.

Now, my mother-in-law is 90 years old—a spry 90—but her age presents some challenges with technology. She frequently calls my husband asking for help with her phone, computer, and TV.  The half of the call I can hear is comical:

“Well, Mom, when’s the last time you turned it off and restarted it?”

Pause.

“What do you mean you don’t know how to restart?” or “How can you not know your password?” or “Stop pressing all the buttons all at once!”

So what she did after Lois’s call was a surprise.

My mother-in-law got in her car, drove to Lois’s house, took the remote in hand, and somehow got the TV back in business.

It reminds me that God equips believers to do the improbable. We may feel inadequate when He calls—untrained, unskilled, uncomfortable. Moses protested, “I’m not very good with words” (Exodus 4:10). Gideon told God he was the least important person in a weak family (Judges 6:15). Paul said he knew he wasn’t qualified humanly speaking, but knew his qualification came from God (2 Corinthians 3:5). He discovered he could meet every circumstance through Christ who gave him strength (Philippians 4:13).

So when God prompts me to do something I don’t feel ready for, I will remember my mother-in-law.  Did she suddenly become a technology expert? No, she just went when called.

I will too.


- Catherine Reid