“Stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6, NKJV).

One day Ralph Teeter went for a drive with his lawyer. He wasn’t pleased. As the lawyer’s conversation with Ralph fluctuated, so did his driving speed. That incident led Ralph to invent what we know as cruise control.

However, Ralph never had the opportunity to use his own invention. Sure, he’s enjoyed the smooth ride it offers, but Ralph doesn’t drive. He’s been blind since age 5.

Ralph’s story brings to mind so many other accounts of people we respect — not for trying to do what they couldn’t, but for doing what they could. For many, God had to give them new eyes, so to speak, to see past what they thought to be limiting barriers.

Moses wanted to be excused from service. He knew he wasn’t a persuasive speaker. God saw beyond that to an ability Moses did have. God told the man who’d led his father-in-law’s sheep that he could also lead the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. With new eyes, Moses did just that.

Hymn writer Frances Havergal was sickly most of her life. But she too received new eyes for service to God. She dedicated to God both her voice and her ability to write. Her best-known hymn describes her surrender to do what she could — “Take My Life and Let it Be.”

When she was a teenager, a diving accident altered the life Joni Eareckson had expected to lead. It turned the former athletic teen into a quadriplegic. She was indeed limited. But not useless. How could she serve God? Nearly 40 years later, we know. God gave Joni new eyes to see beyond her limitations. From her wheelchair, she has faithfully honored God through public speaking, singing, a radio ministry, writing books, and painting pictures by holding a brush between her teeth.

God knows your limitations. He sees your handicap. But He doesn’t focus on that, nor does He expect you to. Our limitations aren’t to be excuses for lack of service to God or to others. If anything, our limitations should drive us to humbly rely on God’s guidance.

Have you been using your lack of certain abilities as an excuse? Have you been highlighting your limitations at the expense of what you have that God can use?

How has God been speaking to you lately? Has He been asking you like He did Moses “What’s at your disposal?” Is God giving you new eyes to see new possibilities? He may right now be opening a door for you to bravely pass through in service for Him.

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