Are you needed?

While I was in Europe, I was listening to a song, and one thing the song made me think about being needed. I wrote all of my thoughts down, then and there. This is what I wrote: "You don't feel needed? That's because you really aren't needed!" This might sound harsh, but this is my explination: "God can use you, but that doesn't mean He NEEDS you. God could carry out His plan without you..." Still a little harsh? Let me continue: "... but He has chosen YOU to help Him. This should be EXTREMELY humbling in every way."
Most people don't know this, but I have had a hard time with pride and this realization hit me right between the eyes. I guess it took travelling to Europe, having a bad day, having no one to comfort me, and needing to escape with my music for my pride to finally be shattered. It's one of those things that you just don't think God can use, but the rest of the trip, nothing got to me, I brushed things off, and I was a lot happier. I needed it to happen.
I think we all want to feel needed, and we are, but by other people. I also think we assume God NEEDS us for His plan too, but so often we forget that that's not the case. He has just chosen to use us, and we forget this is a privilege. I think if we saw missions and ministry as a privilege, it would change the way we serve and why. Many times, we do it so we'll look good and God will like us. I'm guilty of this myself. If we looked at it as a privilege, though, we would enjoy it even more and we would be more willing to do it, I think. If it's a privilege, God hand-picked YOU to do it. That would make me jump right in and do it. If I thought, "The almighty God of the universe, took His time to pick me and grow me in Him so I could reach these people," I don't know about you, but it would get me excited.
Now, I will admit it. The thoughts that I had in Europe were written at a very emotional time, but that doesn't make them any less true. If anything, they are more true, because they were straight from my heart. They may have sounded harsh at first too, but it makes me realize that I'm even MORE important because God CHOSE me out of everyone.
Someone once told me, "God uses ordinary people to do EXTRAORDINARY things!" God CAN use you and He will, but He does NOT NEED you!