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PROGRAM D-8446
What boxes have you put yourself in? I want to share about our tendency to limit what God wants to do through us and for us because we put ourselves in boxes.
These thoughts are part of my book, Get Over It: Letting Go and Moving Forward with God. I’ve been involved in ministry to women for over thirty-five years—and I’m a woman myself—and I’ve seen too many of us build boxes around ourselves and draw lines in the sand which keep us from being all God designed us to be and from doing some of the good works he put us here to do.
Ask yourself what box or boxes you have put yourself in or you’ve allowed someone else to put you in. Here are some common ones:
- I’m too old—or too young—to do that.
- I don’t have the right education.
- I don’t have the right experience.
- I don’t have enough money.
- I can’t carry a tune.
- I’m not good at math.
- I’m not good with people.
- I’m too shy to do that.
- I’ll never be able to learn all this.
- I don’t have the right looks.
- I’m too big—or too small.
- That’s not my gift.
You may be in your own unique box. Think about it: what have you been telling yourself you cannot do for some reason like this? It’s time to get over it!
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” I’m convinced that many of us are missing out on the good works God prepared for us to do because we’ve allowed others to put us in a box—or more likely, we’ve put ourselves in some box—and we just can’t believe that God wants us out of the box and will equip us to do what he intended from the beginning of time for us to do.
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Has God given you a vision of what you could do? Have you ever asked him for a vision of what he wanted you to do? If you’ve never aspired to something so big that it scared you, then you may be perishing spiritually. Think about that.