Hidden Potential

You know that feeling you get, like you are about to lose it, when you discover you have forgotten something really important?

That was me, last Friday, as I reached in my purse in the airport parking lot.

I reached in and it was missing. My wallet that is. The one with my license in it. No license meant I was not getting on a plane. Throwing my car into reverse, I flew out of the airport parking lot and back on the highway, scrambling to think of some way, any way, I could still make my flight to go speak.

I know you can imagine the thoughts that were flying inside my head. What is wrong with you? Why did you miss this? The event planner is going to be so disappointed in you. 

And then, new thoughts began to peak through the surface. Thoughts that I have been cultivating with Jesus for the past three years. God has grace for you; you can have grace for you. God sees you, sees your heart and He is for you. God will help you even when you make a mistake. He is not mad at you., so don’t you be mad at you. You will be ok and so will this situation. 

It wasn’t easy, but I continued pushing down those negative thoughts all. weekend. long. See, my mistake didn’t just cause me inconvenience, it caused it for many others. And yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, I was able to continue to extend grace to myself. (Even when my niece discovered I still had the price tag hanging off my jeans as I got ready to speak!)

This growth has come in my life by filling my heart each day with God’s word and with resources based on God’s word like Wendy Pope’s new book, Hidden Potential.

Here is some powerful truth written by Wendy in Hidden Potential:

“God believes everyone is worth seeing, even me.

No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God, the creator of the heavens and earth, cares about you. And what’s more awesome is, the very first person to ever call God by His name, El Roi was an Egyptian slave, a castoff from the crowd, and a woman who, by that day’s standard, would be considered a nobody. But she wasn’t a nobody to God.

We meet this woman named Hagar in Genesis 16 when she is brought into the twisted saga of Abraham’s wife Sarah, who is desperate to have a child. God promised Abraham that he would father a child late in life and through that child all nations would be blessed. The Reader’s Digest version of the story goes like this: Sarah became impatient for God’s plan. (I can relate to you, Sarah-girl.) She made the hasty decision to let her husband sleep with her maidservant. (I can’t relate to that! It’s messed up on so many levels!) Hagar conceived and gave birth to Ishmael. Sarah got jealous (imagine that), mistreated Hagar, and Hagar ran away. Let’s join up with Hagar near a spring in the desert on the road to Shur (Gen. 16:7), where she converses with the angel of the Lord. 

The angel listens and speaks prophecy over her unborn child. Scripture references the conversation this way, “The LORD talked to Hagar” (Gen.16:13, ERV). Hagar’s response is priceless. “She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, ‘You are “God Who Sees Me.”’ She said this because she thought, “I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!” (Gen.16:13 ERV). 

God is El Roi, the God who sees. He sees our fears. He sees our faults. He sees our failures and frailties. God believes everyone is worthy of seeing. He sees in us what no one else can: a worthwhile possibility.” – Wendy Pope

Yes! God sees a worthwhile possibility in you and I … even when we mess up like Abraham, Sarah and Hager. Even when we fail like I did last Friday. He sees us and He is for us!

Fears. Faults. Failures. Frailties. Every woman at some point wonders, Do I have to get past all my weaknesses before God can use me?

Wendy Pope is happy to tell readers: No! You don’t have to overcome, correct, rise above, or get strong before you are qualified to be part of God’s plan. He can use you right now. You are a worthwhile possibility.

In Hidden Potential, readers see that they can be:

• faithful, even in fear
• included in God’s plans, even in weaknesses
• worth something, even in failure
• valuable, even in pain

 
Pope explores the life of a fearful murderer on the run with a speech problem and anger issues—also known as Moses—to show readers God’s power and grace. As she writes, God will never count anyone out as long as they count themselves as His children.
 
Hidden Potential includes discussion, reflection, and Bible study questions, challenges to take readers further in their faith, and real-life stories from other women to remind readers they are not alone.

Click here to get a copy of Wendy’s new book!

Lynn