You may remember hearing on the news last year about the woman who talked down a man who entered a school in Atlanta with a loaded rifle and enough ammunition to kill hundreds of people. In her book, Prepared for a Purpose, Antoinette Tuff shared that although she was called a hero by many, she does not consider herself one. She views herself as someone God chose to use for a specific purpose.

Michael Hill entered the McNair Discovery Learning Academy on Tuesday, August 20, 2013. Antoinette was covering the front desk during lunch when he arrived. She remained calm and spoke quietly to him. Although she was keenly aware of the danger and experienced great fear, God caused her to appear peaceful.

Now this was not a counselor or person trained for such experiences. Antoinette is a bookkeeper who has had her share of difficulties in life, so much so that she had tried to commit suicide. She was facing a divorce from the man she had been with for more than 30 years, the father of her two children, including a disabled son. In fact, just minutes before the incident occurred she had received a phone call with devastating news.

Antoinette states, “God uses us all to accomplish His work. He can turn any one of us into an instrument of good. Yet God doesn’t just pick us randomly for whatever assignment He has for us. God does something else that is at the very heart of my story. God gives us a purpose and God prepares us for that purpose.”

She says, “Here is the great beauty of God’s system of preparation and purpose. All it takes for us to be prepared is to empty ourselves of ignoble things so we can be His vessel. Admit we are weak and flawed and no better than any other and we will be prepared for our purpose. Recognize God is the source of our strength and that apart from Him we can do nothing, as it says in John Chapter 15, Verse 5, and we will be prepared for our purpose. Ask ourselves every morning when we get up, ‘Lord, how will you use me today? How can I be your instrument of good?’ and we will be prepared for our purpose. Open our hearts to the possibility God will call on us one day and ask us to be an angel for someone and realize God puts people in our paths to guide us on our world-wind journeys and await our next assignment from God with thanks and praise and joyfulness and we will be prepared for our purpose. And when we are prepared, there is only one question we need to ask. The very question I asked in that office when Michael Hill walked in, ‘God, what are we going to do now?’ “

Antoinette’s story is so inspirational to me. It clearly shows that anyone can be used of God, even in our difficult times, if we submit ourselves to Him and allow Him to do what He wills.

I challenge you to ask this question every morning so you can live . . . life to the fullest.