You Can Overcome Life’s Limitations

Cripple an individual and you have a Sir Walter Scott.

Put one in jail and you have a John Bunyan.

Nearly bury him in snow and you have a George Washington.

Have him born in abject poverty and you have an Abraham Lincoln.

Put him in a grease pit in a railroad roundhouse and you have a Walter Chrysler.

Make him a second fiddler in an obscure South African orchestra and you have a Toscanini.

Hardships, physical or encountered, as our daily activities aren’t designed to crush us, but to challenge us. None of us initially see them as such, but life proves them to be. Think of your own experience with things that were unwanted, but they proved to be a blessing. 

A little red headed kid in a small Mississippi town committed his life to the gospel ministry. After the worship service his mother spoke to the pastor asking that he pray for the kid. Her concern as expressed was he had difficulty speaking to one person, much less a group of people. That young man was subject to a number of limitations leading to his maturity in ministry.

After he committed his life to serving the Lord as a minister he was told the following. He had been born with hole in his heart, known as a blue baby. He was given six weeks to live. His parents dedicated themselves to rearing the child for ministry if he lived. That kid was me. I am glad I know that, but I am glad I didn’t know that until after I had made my decision public. I am by no means a “big thing,” but I am a thing used in a big thing, the ministry.

Have a child hidden in an alligator infested river and you have a Moses.

Make a youth a shepherd in a barren desert and you have a David.

Let a little girl grow up as a member of an outcast minority race and you have an Esther.

Let a child have a speech impediment and you have a Joshua who became “mighty in speech.”

Sell a young sibling into slavery and you have a Joseph.

You may have a limitation you think is an inhibition. It doesn’t have to limit you. It can propel you to bigger things at any age. Your limitation may not be physical, cultural, or circumstantial, it may be self-imposed by your negative thoughts. Even they can be transformed by Jesus.

“Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” (Psalm 37:5)