Early in World War Two, on the eve of America’s entry into the European Theater, Churchill’s chief military representative in Washington sent this message to the Prime Minister: American forces are more unready for war than it is possible to imagine.

He was right. Only two years earlier the U.S. Army had ranked seventeenth in the world in size and combat power, just behind Romania. When Germany’s 136 divisions swept Western Europe, the U.S. War Department could barely field five divisions. Even if they had mustered more, they lacked the transport and landing craft to send them overseas.*

Then, when things got underway in Africa, all was disorder and chaos.

It’s like this for most of us. We feel unqualified, unprepared, and ill-equipped. Things go wrong and we taste failure. Of course! That’s what happens when you forge a new path. And God uses every bit of it.

We recently took a trip. Bathed in prayer and heavily researched, it came to naught. All our progress was wiped away two days later by an unfortunate event.

But we’d prayed like crazy. 

And that’s why we can believe it’s all working for good. God is neither blind nor lame. Neither deaf nor powerless. He has strong opinions and does what He intends to do. And what does He intend to do?

You are good, and what you do is good (Psalm 119:68a).

Even now we’re beginning to see the meaning behind our mess. So take heart. Be courageous. Do Christ’s work with no concern for your inadequacies. He is awesome.

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* from An Army at Dawn, by Rick Atkinson