Not Enough, According to Who?

 

Two fish and five loaves were not enough.
Who said so?

Our eyes did.
Our logic did.
Our limited perspective did.

The disciples looked at the situation and saw scarcity. This same way of thinking still tells us today that we are not enough.

I know that voice well.

And yet, Jesus looked at the same offering and saw possibility.

You see, I dropped out of college after my freshman year. From that point on, I never thought I would or could become anything society deemed successful. Yet here I am, ending a sixteen-year stretch as GM of a company that is quite successful in their industry space.

Now I find myself looking toward the future, wondering how I will go from running a company to owning my very own.

I am not rich, and so stepping out in faith is always a risk.

Even though I have been successful helping build someone else’s company, the thought of failure still crosses my mind. But I have never been one to take no for an answer, nor have I ever said no to bright ideas and opportunities.

Faith often looks unreasonable before it looks fruitful.

2 Corinthians 5:7 says “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

When the boy and the disciples saw only two fish and five loaves, they felt that sinking feeling. The one that whispers, “This won’t work.”

John 6:9 even says “But this is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?

But let us ask a better question.... What did Jesus see?

What looked like not enough to them looked like an opportunity to Him.

What we see as crisis, emergency, or disappointment, He sees as provision. He sees tools. He sees joy waiting on the other side of obedience. And let us be honest, a full belly does bring joy. At least it does for me.

So what do we do with this information, with this new perspective?

We are conditioned as a society to search for problems, to fix everything before we believe something big can work. Sometimes, we even put ourselves on the list of things that are not enough.

But what if we saw "lack" as opportunity?

Opportunity for what?

Well, Jesus fed five thousand people with “not enough.”

“Then Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down, and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”
John 6:11 NKJV

He filled a need.

So what can He do with your not enough?

Jesus is the great mathematician.
The great multiplier.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
Ephesians 3:20 NKJV

Do you have a calling or vision from God that feels too big? I do and I'm just now getting to it in life. Remember earlier I said, I dropped out of college? 

Let me tell you how I became a General Manager of the company I work for now and how I'm now on the cusp of owning my own company.

I never said no.

Let's start the story in the middle. I was asked to come work part-time, cleaning and recycling plastic. I gave it my all. When I finished my tasks and found downtime, I asked questions. I learned about the machines. That led to being asked if I wanted to run them and cut stencils.

I was nervous. I'm a short woman, and those machines were big. But in spite of the apprehension, I wanted to conquer them.

Then they asked if I wanted to learn how to answer emails and take orders. That excited me because it felt more natural to me. After helping relieve pressure on a very small team, I was asked if I would like to learn how to draw stencils.

So I did. I learned everything I could, and then some.

Eventually, I found myself in a position that was needed, made a difference, and helped grow the company.

Luke 16:10 says “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.”

I don't say any of this to say, “Look at me.” I'm saying it because during moments personal moments with God, He began showing me the whole story.

You see, in seventh grade, I took a spin-wheel class where I learned to design a 3D trinket from a wax block using a small CNC machine. At the time, I thought it was useless.

He reminded me of joining FBLA and Junior Chamber in high school, and taking every accounting class I could. I learned the basics of professionalism, bookkeeping and reconciliation for a business I had not yet worked for.

He showed me that serving as a Second Lieutenant, Executive Officer, Public Affairs Officer, and being on the drill team in AFJROTC taught me leadership.

All of this happened before I ever began and ended college in one short year. You know, the moment when I thought, well, there goes my chance at becoming somebody. 

Except later, as a stay-at-home mom I became Vice President of my sons’ preschool. Through that He taught me fundraising and marketing.

Even still in the moment, this young woman thought she was not enough.

I wanted success, but I believed I did not have the tools since I dropped out of college. Or so I thought.

The entire time, the Lord was guiding my steps.

Proverbs 16:9 says “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

Father knew I would quit college. He also knew what adulthood would require of me. And He prepared me anyway.

Our Father is kind. He is generous.

Even when I did not take some seasons seriously, He still made a way.

Philippians 1:6  says “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

He took what I thought was not enough and turned it into sixteen years of what society calls success. 

Now that I am aware and willing to see through His perspective, I cannot wait to discover what all I was unknowingly preparing for in my next chapter. I can already see a glimmer of the thread that is creating my future. Standing yet in another middle part of the story, I can see in the haze up ahead that music, plays, coffee, and women's ministry was no coincidence being a part of my past. That thread goes as far back as elementary school, being a toddler even.

It is super exhilarating to know that God turns not enough into just enough.

So let me ask you this.

What exactly is your, “not enough”? 
And what might He do with it?

Are you ready to turn it into opportunity?

I am.

Let us put on our Jesus-colored glasses and do this thing.