Denton County Living Well Magazine January/February 2016 | Page 12

Be Not Afraid W By Michelle Wallace hat would you do if you were no longer afraid? I’m asking myself this question. God planted gifts, great treasure on the inside of us. What would it mean for me to fully lean into the life worthy of the call? Gifts differ from talent because they’re supernatural. One of my gifts is encouragement, but even an encourager needs to be encouraged from time to time. Recently, I attended a conference and was blown away listening to a man named Bob Goff. He’s really using his God-given gift to fulfill the call on his life, pressing in to all that God has prepared for him, and that pumps me up! The average age in Uganda is just over 15 years old. It’s a nation of children due to war, poverty and disease. Bob explained how the system works. “If I don’t want your son hanging out with my daughter, I accuse him of defilement, and that day he goes to jail, no trial or hearing.” Then, with no one to represent the children, they sit in jail for years. Bob was able to get 98 of the first 100 children he represented exonerated and set free. The problem with using Bob as an example in a story to convey the importance of using the gifts God gave you to make a difference in the world, is that words fail to describe the level of passion and joy this man has in what he’s doing. Very few people are fully living unafraid, purpose-driven lives with a joy that is indescribable. Even less living not in the power of their own strength but in the strength and power that shouts: This could only be God! I’m asking God to show me the next step. He promised that by His Spirit I would have everything I need to live a life worthy of the call. 2 Peter 1: 3-4 reads, Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ]