be unlikely

It was my senior year of high school. The grass had turned a little greener, birds were chirping louder, and department stores had begun to line their racks with beautiful, sparkly, shiny formal gowns. Spring meant just one thing to a senior girl: prom.

I made my way to school that morning, late, as usual and shot across the parking lot to make it in time to my homeroom class. I took my seat and began to work on the previous night’s history assignment. The bell dinged and the ever – redundant morning announcements began to blast over the loud speaker.

I didn’t pay much attention until I heard the words, “and today in every homeroom class you will need to nominate this year’s prom king and queen.”

Suddenly my stomach was in complete knots. I mean — I knew never to get my hopes up for such a thing. After all, I was the athletic girl who was at church every time the doors were open, not the socialite this honor required. But I still couldn’t shake that horrible feeling within my body as sheets of paper were passed around the room on which to write down our nominations.

Our very awkward and insensitive teacher took his place, front and center of the classroom. As he collected the papers, he began to call out the names written on them. For a brief moment, I felt like I was at the end of a very intense Survivor episode.

Would my name be written on any of those pieces of paper? I wondered.

Thirty seconds before the bell rang our homeroom had nominated that year’s prom king and queen. And once again, I was not it. I quickly made my way to the one and only place a girl can get any ounce of privacy in a large high school — the bathroom stall.

I shut the gray rusted door and pulled off my sweatshirt and wept and wept. It wasn’t me…again. Never again would there be an opportunity to become a prom queen. While I knew not to expect it, something inside of me still wanted to have it.

But from that moment on I became something else — an unlikely prom queen of a different kind. It has to do with being chosen for a more important role in my life.

Recently God’s been showing me that being an unlikely girl isn’t such a bad thing. In fact, all throughout the Bible there are great heroes of faith that were indeed themselves the unlikely candidates. Moses couldn’t talk right. David was an adulteress. The Samaritan woman was nothing more than a sinner girl. And even Jesus’ very own disciples appeared to be scrubs in their community.

Yet God seemed to have hand picked and set apart these unlikely people.

Is there something that lies in your past that you feel is too far a stretch for God to use? Do you posses a quality that the world would look at and say, “Nope, not her?” Have you ever felt completely unqualified to be used by the hand of God?

If so, then perhaps you should get ready: because God qualifies the unqualified and he deems the unlikely, likely. Never think your inadequacies are too much for Him. Be unlikely to this world for the most likely God.

Resources…

The Bible

Something Else…

Test your knowledge on being {unlikely} with this week’s quiz!

Nicki is a girl who loves a day at the pool, friends that make her laugh until her belly hurts and loves living an unlikely life. You can find her blog at Three Girly Girls.

Are you living an unlikely life? Check in with Nicki this week.