By Brenda Cannon Henley
I have been pondering the idea of how to write this column for quite some time now, but like all writers and artists, I suppose I harbored a fear of being misunderstood or even questioned by some of the church folks. I was not reared in a Christian household and my parents did not attend any church except for the occasional wedding or funeral that required family attendance, but I am happy to tell you that God uses whom He will and that earthly standards are not necessarily the top line of criteria. Being available and being willing are the two prerequisites for His service I have learned. I wrote once that God does not always choose the qualified, but that He qualifies the chosen. This is baffling to some Bible scholars, teachers, and pastors. The best teaching and reaching tool a Christian has in his or her own personal testimony of what God has done in their own life.

I also need to add here that my parents did start attending a local church when they received Christ as their Saviour when I was 19 years old, and they became quite active. It was a very confusing time in the life of the children because we had never been made to attend the services, dress a certain way, or give up many of the things we had been reared to enjoy. We slowly learned, and all of the family attended regularly and held many leadership positions in the various ministries.

A friend sent me a quote this week that said something like, “Aren’t you glad God uses broken crayons and that they still color?” I answered with a resounding, “Yes, I am.” If God did not use the broken crayons, I, perhaps would not have had a place of service all of these years. How about you? Just maybe today you have been thinking about visiting a local church, attending a teaching class, or visiting a pastor or staff member, but you harbor the same fear I did. What if you don’t know all of the answers? What if your supposed pedigree doesn’t stack up? What if your life has entertained sin and you feel you are too scared to serve? Let me clear the air – God loves each of us and He welcomes us into His service. What better time of the year than Christmas to be drafted or volunteer to help reach others?

You have encouragement from a great source – The Word of God. The Bible tells us many stories of men and women, and even children, who served the Lord. We can find from reading about their lives that they were not perfect, some were not educated, many were not polished, and some were even physically unattractive, and yet, the God of Heaven saw fit to use them to reach others along the way.

Another longtime friend of mine sent me a Bible story just today about four women in the Bible that pricked my heart again about this matter. Do you know what Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba all have in common? They had affairs, were prostitutes, they lied, and were truly not the starry eyed perfect princesses that some church people would have you believe you must be in order to serve.

Tricia Robinson writes that all four of these ladies were grandmothers in Jesus’ family tree. I once asked my ladies Sunday school class if they knew who Solomon’s mother was? It is an interesting study and it has been proven that the wisest man that ever lived, outside of the Lord Jesus, is noted to be Solomon whose mother is Bathsheba, who sinned on the rooftop with David. Robinson points out that these women that perhaps felt like outsiders, has-beens, never-beens, and women who were weary of being taken advantage of, being hurt, accused, lied about, not trusted, and left unnoticed and unappreciated, were claimed by God to be in the royal lineage that we study about so fervently this time of year. Often, pastors and teachers skim over this background, but I think it is important. It gives us hope and value.

If we find ourselves broken and battered this Christmas, wandering, wondering, wounded, worn out, and alone during this time of the year, read the story of Christ with new hope and new desire. We will find that we, too, can be used by Him to reach others for His glory. We all have a place in His work. We all are needed. And, best of all, we all are wanted with a fervor and love that nothing else matches.

Merry Christmas and a very Blessed New Year to each of our readers.
[12-21-2015]

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, at
[email protected], or by using the contact form below.