Your Ordinary Is Extraordinary

“What’s wrong?” my husband asked a couple days ago.

“Nothing,” I said stubbornly.

We got in the car and headed to church. He looked at me again and asked the same question a couple more times as I sat there silently… 

Then the truth came out, and my eyes began to water.

“I’m just so worried that I’m not doing enough. Like I want to utilize every gift that God has given me. But am I really doing that? Am I where I’m supposed to be? Am I where He wants me? I just don’t want to live such an ordinary life. I want to do something big for Him. I don’t want to be so… ordinary.”

He encouraged me and told me how God is using me where I’m at. And then yesterday I was listening to a podcast, and the episode was entitled “An Ordinary Day.” Then I realized something…

God uses the ordinary.

He doesn’t come seeking the extraordinary. 

He comes looking for the ordinary and makes it extraordinary.

But sometimes I can find myself feeling so inadequate. Like maybe I’m not extraordinary enough for God to really use me. Or maybe I’m so ordinary that there’s no possible way I can make a big impact.

But here’s the plain truth:

God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.

The creator of this universe is not waiting on you to learn something new or become something that you’re not already. God is simply looking for willing people that want to be like Isaiah and say, “Here I am, Lord. Send me!” He wants to use you where your two feet stand today.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, it says “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.”

God doesn’t need the brightest and the best to do something extraordinary.

He simply needs people to just show up.

What you bring to Christ is significant.

Sometimes it feels as though what I have is not enough. Like I don’t have this extreme talent or gifting that some people have such a strong passion for. It at times can make me feel inadequate… or insignificant… but then I am reminded:

We don’t need to worry about whether or not what we have to offer is enough for God. We just need to be willing to give ourselves to God and let Him take care of the rest.

There’s a great example of this in the Bible.

Jesus was preaching to a large crowd when his disciples asked Him to send the people away to get something to eat since it was getting dark. Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.”

Another disciple by the name of Andrew then said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.”

Children were not seen as very important at this time. In fact, they weren’t even included in the count of the 5,000. But here’s the thing: God uses people that are often overlooked to perform miracles. And this boy was willing to give up the little he had to Jesus. 

Because of that, over 5,000 people were fed.

What you bring to Christ is significant. Believe that. 

God uses trials.

Sometimes we encounter problems or tough situations that have us questioning whether or not we are where God wants us. When a stumbling block comes in our path, we start to question whether or not this was God’s will for our life.

Here’s something that you and I need to start believing and trusting:

Trials are an ordinary experience of God’s people, even when we’re right where He wants us to be. He always uses these trials, even us who are in the center of His will, to drive us to depend on Him even more mightily.

So believe it: 

Your ordinary is extraordinary.

God loves using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. 

He told ordinary Noah to build a boat.

He led ordinary Moses to get His people out of Egypt.

He equipped ordinary David to kill Goliath.

He saved ordinary Daniel from the lion’s den.

He walked with ordinary Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego through the fire.

He was born in an ordinary manger.

He chose twelve ordinary people to be his disciples.

He died on an ordinary cross next to ordinary people.

We can put this feeling of overwhelm that stems from us trying so hard to do something great for God to rest. If we want to be used by Him, we can lean into our ordinariness and ask Him to work in us.

We can simply show up and say, “Here I am. Send me.”

Then we can see what extraordinary things He will do through us.