You might be praying for a breakthrough.

Begging God to answer your prayer.

Desperate for God to open that door of opportunity for you to walk through.

Yet nothing seems to be happening. You wonder, Has God not heard my prayer? If He has, why won’t He answer? Frustrated, maybe even angry, you conclude that God is absent when you need Him most. But could it be that the reason has nothing to do with your assumption that God has seemingly forgotten you? Might it just be that God’s blessings are eluding you because of you?

Consider this. The person you met last week “out-of-the blue” knows just the right person you need to connect with to move forward in your big plans. But on the surface, he doesn’t look like he’d know anyone important. Even though you could have engaged in a lengthy chat, you pay him no attention after you’ve been introduced. Missed one-of-a-kind connection!

How about the server at the restaurant last night? She is smart, talented, and going places. But right now she’s working part-time in the evenings (while her husband takes care of the kids) in order to make ends meet so she can pursue her dream. She overhears your plans to apply for a job in a specialty niche. Her husband owns a company and is looking for someone with just your set of credentials. But she doesn’t volunteer that information because you didn’t so much as address her by name, even though she wore a conspicuous name tag. Missed potential job opportunity!

Whether it was missing out on a great job opportunity or dismissing a potentially meaningful relationship…I think a great many of us can look back on our lives and recall situations when we failed to recognize the blessing that was right before our eyes. To our great disadvantage, we did so because we simply weren’t open to the possibilities that someone or some situation could have afforded us. Again and again, we unwittingly forfeit many of the gifts and blessings God desires to give us simply because His chosen instruments (to bless us) don’t come in the ‘package’ or ‘wrapping’ that we expect. Whether we think someone is not experienced enough, not talented enough, not good-looking enough, not educated enough, not popular enough, the list goes on and on…we casually dismiss the very people God wants to use to bless us.

So…beware of the innate tendency to prejudge and have preconceived notions. The truth is that at any given time, God can use absolutely any one to accomplish His will in our lives. He has taught me that He can use the most insignificant circumstance, the most ordinary event and the most “common” person to radically impact a life…forever. He can even use the person we consider the least qualified or suitable. However, this is not to say that we are justified in having such thoughts in the first place—God desires us to always think the best of all people. In I Samuel 16:7 (New Living Translation) we are admonished: “The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Regardless of whether or not we recognize it, each of us is a Gift—an answer to another person’s prayer. You—your passion, gifts, strengths, unique story, life experiences—is the key that unlocks the door to someone else’s miracle.

Never put the all-powerful God of the universe in a box. Don’t dismiss or discredit anyone! Otherwise you just might miss out on a blessing that could have huge ramifications for your life.