Sometimes, as cross-cultural workers, we’re asked to serve in ways that seem completely outside of our giftings or comfort zones. These experiences happen in our home cultures, of course, but being in a different culture can magnify our feelings of ineptitude and ineffectiveness. 

Early on in our first term of service abroad, we helped out with a Vacation Bible School put on by the church we were attending. Being new in the country meant limited language skills, and I was assigned to assist with the craft time for the youngest children. Now, if you tried to pick two areas in which I’m the least gifted, I’m not sure you could choose a better two than crafts and groups of small children. In America, this would have been a challenge; as a new resident of a foreign country, I’m sure I was a total disaster. 

Can anyone relate?

The Lord (in His mercy) does not always ask us to serve in these types of ways; sometimes He enables us to use our gifts for His work, and we feel encouraged. But perhaps, in our sinful pride, we’re tempted to become encouraged for the wrong reasons – encouraged at how wonderfully gifted we are, for example, and not at the work the Lord does through us. So we need a smattering of experiences like my crafts-and-small-children assignment to keep us humble before Him and to remind us of the truths of this verse in 2 Corinthians. 

Paul prayed to the Lord for his thorn, his weak spot, to be removed, but the Lord said “no” and reminded Paul that He works through weakness. His power shines more brightly in the darkness of our weakness; consequently, we as His people remember that His grace is sufficient, that we actually do not need impressive skillsets to be used in His work. 

The next time we’re feeling very weak and unable to do what the Lord has put in front of us to do, I pray we remember that His power and love will be displayed just exactly there, when we feel the most ineffective. The work is His work, and the glory is His glory.