I have just returned from a trip to Arizona where I was with a team ministering in the Navajo nation. The trip was filled with opportunities to do some sightseeing along the way, so we filled the week pretty full. We were able to drive along the famous Route 66 highway for part of our trips around the area and managed to spend our last afternoon at the Grand Canyon. Pictures will never be able to tell the full story of the beauty and wonder of that place.

One of the flights was long enough to watch a movie on the small screen provided on the larger planes. I watched two older movies that both had good story lines and life lessons that could be gleaned. Both happened to be about women who were personally challenged to pioneer into realms where normally only men had dominated prior to their coming on the scene. Both had to overcome many attacks against their womanhood, but also against their obvious natural gifting.

Last week we were talking about discovering your God-given gift(s) listed in Romans 12. These women all knew what they were capable of doing but had to fight and overcome many obstacles in order to display to everyone else that they were not only capable of handling the tasks but they could do it as well, if not better, than their male counterparts.

This is not an article on equal rights or liberating women. In my opinion, many battles have already been fought and won along these lines from a legal perspective and now they must be enforced and reinforced by each individual who knows what their gifting and calling is. A majority of people never reach their God-given potential because they are unwilling to pay the price to push against all of the obstacles that have and will continue to come their way. Those obstacles are numerous and each one must be faced and overcome.

I think the biggest obstacle for most people is truly believing in yourself. Identifying those areas of strength as well as the areas of weakness that every individual has is absolutely necessary if one is to ever excel in their field of endeavor. How many potentially great men and women were not willing to pay the price to overcome the obstacles placed in front of them?

I love the example of Jonathan and his armor bearer in I Samuel 14. Israel is at war with the Philistines. Jonathan takes his armor bearer over close to the enemy’s camp and basically said that he had enough confidence in the Lord that he was willing to risk his life to begin the rout of the enemy camp. 

He told the young man, it really doesn’t make any difference what they do because the Lord is on our side and He will help us defeat our enemies. It gave the rest of the army the courage to join them in defeating their enemy. Saul was notoriously slow to engage in battle when the odds were against him, but both David and Jonathan displayed courage beyond their youthful age. Both of these young men inspired the rest of the army to engage in the battle against the enemy and the Lord fought for them and they won their victory.

What about your vision? What kind of obstacles are standing in your way? What is your plan to fulfill the amazing destiny that the Lord has ordained for every single person He lovingly created? I believe many of us who are old enough to be retired or retiring are going to catch the vision and begin to run afresh with youthful vigor to fulfill the next phase of our destinies. You have been saved “for such a time as this.” No matter who you are, how old (or young) you are, God has a plan in place for you to fulfill. 

Don’t settle for less, when you know that you have the potential in you to do better.