God Doesn’t Call the Equipped
Today we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples in the Upper Room. Did you know that there were 120 followers gathered there that day, in addition to the Blessed Mother, the Apostles and the Holy Women? (Acts 1:15) I try to imagine what it was like for all of them to receive the Holy Spirit in such a monumentally tangible way.
Though our baptisms and confirmations are not filled with the pomp and circumstance of that first Pentecost, we, too, receive the same Holy Spirit and are called to evangelize as the first followers of Jesus were. If you are like me, you may wonder how…how does someone as little and insignificant as me evangelize and make a difference in our world today?
Have you heard the adage, “God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called?” We need only look at the Apostles to see that this is true. God calls us out of our comfort zones to do things we never expected to be capable of doing, but we needn’t worry because He will equip us with what we need to get the job done. We need only to confidently trust Him.
Take me for example, back in 2018. I wanted to change things up a bit for Lent by “doing” something rather than “giving up” something, so I joined a Faith Sharing Group at my local church for the Lenten Season. I jumped in with both feet even though I worried that I wasn’t “holy” enough or “religious” enough to participate in such a group. I joined with butterflies in my stomach, fearful of the unknown into which I was stepping.
Joining that Lenten Group ended up being one of the best things I ever did for myself! It enabled me to get to know some of the parishioners and gave me a safe, warm environment in which to discuss my faith. I also discovered that as members of this group, all of us were on a new faith journey and we each had our own unique way of contributing to it.
Later that year, the leader of our group had to step down and I was asked to fill her shoes. This request took me by surprise. After all, I had only been part of the group for six weeks! Me??? I thought. How could I possibly do this?Despite my reservations, I accepted the challenge, and, with butterflies in my stomach, I again jumped in with both feet. I spent a year training to be a Group Facilitator, and I haven’t looked back since. In fact, I am still a Group Facilitator to this day. It has been an amazing experience for me. I assure you that I get more out of the group than I give.
God calls all of us to evangelize in different ways. It’s up to us to figure out what He wants from us, to trust Him when we figure it out, and to follow through with it in spite of our misgivings. This is never easy, but if we trust in God to help us figure things out, we will find that, in the end, it is always worth it. How is God calling you to evangelize?
Deb Egan grew up in a Catholic family. Throughout her adult life, she has participated as a church volunteer in many capacities, including teaching Religious Education, being a Eucharistic Minister and Lector, Ministering to the elderly and homebound, and Facilitating Small Faith Groups. She has been trained by Evangelical Catholic and became a member of the Build the Faith Team in April of 2017.
