The Goldmine in You

I often wondered what this phrase in the Bible meant: "The Kingdom of God is within you."

While growing up, I had a very superficial knowledge of the Bible and would read stories in the Old and New Testament mechanically, listen to them like I was taking medicine...with a sour face.

But as Ecclesiastes says in chapter 3: "There is a time for everything." Mine came when I flunked in school and was told by my teacher that I was a donkey and that my great-grandchildren would meet up with me. Of course, we kids become tough after a while and take it with a smile. However, our mind does not. And we have to live with the consequences.

Any wonder I began to fail so badly that my report card started to look like a traffic signal: not the easy-going green but glaring RED. I don't know whether this down-slide would have continued had I not failed the tenth grade. Not that I thought it a great experience to be repeated! It was the most painful terrorizing experience in my young life. I hated being mocked, bracketed as useless, called a donkey and so on.

So one day fed up with myself, I mounted the terrace and perched on the wall. I sat there alone, depressed, with nowhere to go. I felt abandoned.

That night I decided that I was going to approach God. I was going to tell Him that I needed help. I was going to insist that He helps me. Having that in mind I nervously opened the Bible and the passage I got was John 14:1 "Let not your hearts be troubled believe in God . . ."

You can imagine how I felt at that moment. Tears began to roll down my cheeks. I believed that somehow, somewhere, Someone was listening to me. I poured out my thoughts; those fearsome defeated, hateful, resentful, jealous thoughts. I told God that He has to help me. I haven't got anyone else. What a back-handed compliment for God, but He took it in a stride and came in full force.

It's been several years since that experience, and I must tell you this, He kept his side of the bargain. He took me from a frightened little girl who failed miserably in school and helped me achieve so much that sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that it is the same girl who was once—The donkey.

So the message for today is this: In you is a goldmine of talent waiting to be tapped, and if you are like how I was then, you probably don't know it exists and are taking public opinion seriously about your failures. But today, I'm challenging you to look into this goldmine and become like a child. Don't be afraid to ask. Our God is generous and is waiting to release the goldmine in you.