What God can use

This year, I've been doing an online Bible study of 1 and 2 Kings offered by Proverbs 31 ministries. 

The lesson on 2 Kings 4 was particularly powerful to me and continues to resonate. 

It includes accounts of Elisha and two very different women. One was a widow who didn't know how she would feed her children when a debt came due after her husband died. The other woman was married and financially secure, but she was childless. Both women come to Elisha with needs. In each case, he asks what they have. One woman had a small jar of olive oil.  The other woman had faith. In each case, the woman had to follow Elisha's instructions to bring what she had and offer it to God. And God used that offering to supply the need. 

I know there are similar stories of faith and obedience throughout the Bible. But for some reason, these two examples involving two women and a prophet, tucked within the pages of 2 Kings, stirred my spirit. 

As the study's writer, Karen Ehman,  asked: "Do you too have a grim situation you're facing? Gather your resources and fetch your faith. Expect God to act and don't be surprised if He uses one or more of His people in the process. God is best positioned to act when we take what we have, tuck it in an envelope of trust and offer it back to Him — our provider and the author and perfecter of our faith."