At our most recent FamiliesAlive board meeting, we concluded our time together as we normally do, in prayer over one another. These prayers always include praises mingled with grief, a crying out to the Lord our gratitude for the things He has done and our entreaty for His mercy and grace in our families. As we share our hearts and our requests, it is not lost on us how ironic it feels to be involved in the leadership of a family ministry while dealing with our own inadequacies and struggling through hard seasons of parenting. Who are we to help guide and teach other parents when some of our very own children have turned their backs on the Lord?

Since my dad passed the baton of leadership to me back in May 2020, I have questioned the Lord’s choice. I have told Him that I am not qualified.

“Lord, I am not gifted enough, I am not courageous enough, I am not expert enough. I am too flawed, I am too weak, my family is too broken.”

After all, shouldn’t one of the leadership requirements be to have raised flawless children? No? Then certainly, the Lord requires me to be a mom who has mastered patience in parenting. (I tend to be perfectly patient when my children are perfectly respectful and obedient. Guess how often that is?).

If sin, flaws, brokenness, and weakness disqualify me from leadership, then I am disqualified. I am sinful, flawed, broken, and weak, and we have not raised perfect children. They are sinful, flawed, broken, and weak.

But thanks be to God! He has qualified me!

I am not gifted enough, but He uses the gifts He has given me for His kingdom purposes.
I am not courageous enough, but He fills me with His courage to step out in faith and follow Him.
I am not expert enough, but He generously gives His wisdom as I ask for it.
I am too flawed, but He covers me in His righteousness so that I am faultless before Him.
I am too weak, but He gives me His strength by His all-sufficient grace.
My family is too broken, but He seals our cracks with His blood and makes us whole.

Hallelujah! It is Jesus at work in and through me and my family. Hallelujah! I am qualified to lead FamiliesAlive because He is the One doing the work. He has just called me to join Him. He is the One leading. I am following Him.

You will find that FamiliesAlive is led by messy, broken people with messy, broken families who are in desperate need of Jesus. You will also find that it is precisely this kind of people and families the Lord uses. We are all messy, broken people with messy, broken families who are in desperate need of Jesus. Our job is to stay close to Him in His Word, to seek Him in humility, to remember our desperate need of Jesus, and to struggle through this life leaning into His help and love and mercy and grace, knowing our mess, and knowing His cleanliness, His holiness is ours!

If you feel inadequate in any way today, know that you are not the only one. Ask the Lord to help you believe that He alone is fully adequate, and His adequacy is absolutely enough for you to step into anything He calls you to. I’ve heard it said (and this is true): God qualifies those He calls. Rest in that today. Teach your children to rest in that today.