TUESDAY - Devotional

2 Timothy 1:7

• How can relying on God’s power help you stand up for what’s right even when it’s hard?

When I was a little kid, I could hear basketballs hitting the pavement of the cul-de-sac I lived on at any given time. The boys on my block loved to shoot around, and a pickup game was always in the works on North 23rd Avenue.

I was too shy to play with them. Until one day, my dad got home early from work and saw me drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. He parked the car in the driveway and observed the scene. Walking over to me, he asked with a smile, “Why aren’t you playing?”

I looked forlornly at the boys, a basketball circling the rim, teasing a point. “I’m not good enough,” I said simply.

“Hmm,” he said. He looked at me, about seven years old and three and a half feet tall, then put a hand up to shield the sun as he gazed at the group of high school athletes hustling on the pavement. He held out two hands to me. I stood up apprehensively, and before I knew it, he had stacked me on his shoulders and we were stampeding onto the court, dunking and giggling as even the boys couldn’t help but crack a smile.

When we are teammates with someone bigger or stronger than us, it empowers us to feel bigger and stronger ourselves. Though your insecurities may whisper to you, “I’m not good enough,” remember that you are standing on God’s shoulders, and let that embolden you to do the right thing.