Today I will share a special message. Yesterday I attended a breakfast for the Children’s Science Center in Northern Virginia. The event was as fundraiser for a new facility. During the breakfast three children spoke. One of the three was an 11 year old Latina girl. She spoke of her dream to work for NASA some day as a scientist. Later the girl’s mother spoke. She is a Kindergarten teacher who came to the United States when she was 13 years old. She spoke with a Spanish accent and she talked about being the first of her family to attend college in the United States. As a son of immigrant parents, who is also married to an immigrant, I immediately connected with her.
The speaker told a story about her daughter that I want to talk about today. She said her daughter struggled with low self-confidence for years. While her daughter is and has always been very smart, she often doubted herself. She struggled with attempting to instill confidence in her daughter, but nothing worked and she continued to doubt herself for years. Then she enrolled her daughter in a program at the Science Center. The program involved getting professional Latina women who work in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to spend time with young girls for a few weeks. Once this young girl saw women who looked like her — and who probably sounded like her and her Mom — doing things she had only dreamed of, she believed it was possible for her. She is now self-confident and convinced that she will some day work at NASA as a scientist. This happened because she was able to “see it.” If you can’t SEE IT, you can’t HAVE IT! If you can’t SEE IT, you will never BE IT! This is what I will talk about today.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
- While having a mentor is great, having a mentor requires a relationship. The mentor and mentee must know each other and establish some sort of routine that will facilitate the growth of the mentee. But before a person becomes a true candidate for mentorship, they need to see themselves worthy of the investment. This is where a model comes in. Sometimes you simply need someone to model the art of the possible before you. If you can see someone who looks like you (or someone you can simply relate to), doing what you have only dreamed of doing, the journey suddenly seems possible. If God did it for them, you start to believe He can do it for you. This is critical, because your hands will never possess what your heart cannot believe.
- Having a mentor is great. I have multiple. However, you should not undervalue the power of a model. If you can see someone you identify with doing what you are believing God to do, even if you do not have a relationship with them and you never speak to them, their life can become a model that opens up your heart to the endless possibilities of God.
- When God was speaking to Mary through an angel, He was attempting to get young Mary to see herself as the mother of Jesus. Mary could not SEE IT. She could not understand how she would get pregnant without ever sleeping with a man. The angel said, “Mary, you know Elizabeth, your cousin, right?” She said, “Yes.” The angel then said, “Well, you know Elizabeth has been barren her entire life. Guess what? She is six months pregnant right now!” Elizabeth was someone Mary knew. She was someone Mary could relate to. Although Elizabeth’s situation was different, and she was on the other end of the age spectrum, her cousin’s situation was nonetheless impossible. So once Mary internalized the fact that Elizabeth could get pregnant in her old age, so opened her heart to the impossible in her own life. She said, “Okay, BE IT UNTO ME according to Your Word.” And in that moment, she got pregnant. She could not BE IT until she was able to SEE IT! The same is true for you.
- God will place people in your life who can serve as models of what He wants to do in and through you. These people may not be mentors. You may never talk to them. But if you can SEE IT in a model, you can BE IT in your own life.
- When you open your heart to God’s best, He will bless you the point where you MODEL divine success before others. Your life will serve as a witness of what it looks like to believe the invisible and accomplish the impossible!
Closing Confession:
Father, I thank You for displaying and modeling divine success before my eyes. I see people who look like me, people I can relate to, doing what You have called me to do. Since You did it IN them, I believe You will do it IN me. I am able to SEE IT, so I am able to BE IT! Since I SEE IT, I know I will HAVE IT! I see the invisible, I believe the improbable, and I accomplish the impossible, by Your amazing grace. My heart is open to ALL You want to do in my life. I am willing to learn from all the models You place before me and all the mentors You assign me to. Living this way I will change the world! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
