CALL ME AMOS!

I am the youngest of three girls. Growing up, I got the distinct impression that I had to WAIT for my sisters to do everything before I could do it. Because I'm the youngest, clothes and shoes were handed down to me (as long as they were in good condition). I was the last one to come out of diapers, the last one to go to school, the last one to graduate, the last one to get a perm, the last one to wear heels, the last one to get my period, the last one! Indeed, after me, my mother decided that it was time to stop having children so in many ways it was subliminally communicated to me that I was last and therefore had to be LAST in everything. After all, my sisters were older, they were born first, they had lived longer so it's only right and fair that they be FIRST. Right?

What this did in my psyche is that it put me in "place". It put me in my place, last place and it is a place I have mentally stayed in for decades. A place of believing that I could not or should not achieve, have or be anything before my sisters. Subconsciously, there has always been something in the back of my mind that felt like it was 'wrong' for me to do so and over the years (I've found) that it has caused conflict on the blessings, the leadings and callings of God on my life. What right did I have to be the first one married (which I was)? How dare I be the first one to have a child (which I did)? And why should I be the first to be a business owner (which I am)? Needless to say, when I felt God leading me to start this ministry we wrestled like Jacob and the angel. Not only were the voices of the past ringing in my ears but I also felt that birth placement, age and inexperience disqualified me for such a calling. Who did I think I was? I'm the youngest, how can I be the one leading when I was birthed to be LED??

You may have noticed that at the top of our website is a reference to Amos 7:14-15. And you may have wondered what the significance of that is. I'm glad you asked! In the book of Amos the 7th chapter, we read that God sends Amos, a sycamore fig tree farmer, to the nation of Israel to prophecy against them of coming judgment due to their apostasy. Amos has never done anything like this before and knows that he is unqualified for such a thing so when he is confronted by the priest Amaziah, who tried to "place" him about being a "prophet" he said something that arrested me. He says, "I'm not a professional prophet and I was never trained to be one. I'm just a shepherd and a sycamore fig tree farmer. BUT THE LORD HAS CALLED ME...AND TOLD ME GO AND PROPHESY TO MY PEOPLE ISRAEL." (vs. 14-15). This stopped me dead in my mental tracks because I realized that this applied to me as well. While Amos may have felt like this for other reasons it dawned on me that it didn't matter what place I was born in or put in, I could have, do and be whatever God wants me to!

Reader, that is PROFOUND revelation! Some of you may feel this way. That you're not the one that God should use, bless or send...for whatever the reason. Amos recognized that whatever disqualified him in in his own eyes and in the eyes of men did not matter! And we should too! When God calls you, there is absolutely nothing that can stop you! Not age, birth order, race, education, social status, family relation, inexperience, etc.! What I want you to know today is you can have, do, be and go wherever God wants you to despite what YOU or anyone else thinks. All you have to do is be obedient to the call and declare like Amos, "I'm not, I'm just, BUT the LORD has called me!

~Dania Roberts