Discovering Your Gift

God has given to each of us, gifts. Ephesians chapter 4 speaks to this and the fullness of God. When I first came across this passage in the bible I didn't know what my true calling was, but I believed that God would reveal it and bless me to work within it. After all, working for someone else isn't as thrilling as working for self, and working for self isn't as fulfilling as working for God.

The quest to find my gift began with a questionaire given at church one Sunday. It was designed to narrow down the areas where one might be gifted and to display optional career paths. My anwers indicated areas like leadership, service and teaching, if I remember correctly. I didn't trust the results for a second and I was disappointed because I sensed there was something missing; something the survey didn't say. So I prayed. I literally prayed day and night and felt like Jacob wrestling with the angel. I am not not going to let you go until you bless me! I wanted God to show me what my gift was so that I could be happy. I was miserable dealing with the situation at my current job, even though it paid the bills and then some. Instead, I wanted to feel a joy overflowing when doing the thing(s)that God had equipped me to do. I longed to show the world that the master had spoken on my behalf. "This is her gift", I imagined people saying. So I could not fail. I was already growing tired of being tested by those who felt they had power to validate me... or not.

More Research

I jotted down all the things I liked to do, whether good at them or not, and with no regard to frequency of task. My list conatained things like sewing, finances, and drawing. I wrote about what I thought I was good at and allowed myself to explore subjects I thought I hated like cooking and exercise. I kept expounding on likes and dislikes of various tasks until I was left with a few areas of interest. I even learned that I actally enjoyed some things I had thought I didn't.

But that's not how I found my gift. Self-assessment was a big key, but it was God who put the yearning in me, thus only God could reveal it. The kicker was that he had not been trying to keep it a secret, as I suspected. It was I. I was the one repressing the gift so that I might gain fortune through an easier, smarter route. The thought never crossed my mind about how happy I'd be working to my true calling. I couldn't fathom the joy I'd feel while glorifying my saviour, and at the same time knowing he would totally provide for me.

Finding It

Fast forward several years and I can now say that my gift is writing. It seems so obvious now, but arriving at this point took some time. So maybe your passion is your gift or maybe you don't have a clue about what you're able to do. Then, there is no other way. Ask the Lord to show you and support you. He will provide clarity and with it a certain peace. Absorb it, then work energitically and with all your heart. Move with purpose for he hath done great things. Identifying your gift is just the beginning. The best is yet to come!

If You Can Just Take God Out...

That was the statement that lit a fire under my sister. I consider my sister to be the kind-hearted one. The who stays objective, focused, cool and calm despite what may be thrown at her. I consider myself the one to protect her and defend her when it seems anyone is trying to rush over her and take her kindness and sereneness for weakness. But on this day, with this statement, I could not even rush in quick enough, I could not get a word in edge-wise. Instead I listened and was so proud of the way Polly handled it.

We were at one of our expos during the 2008 season and we had a woman come up who said she was a teacher at one school or another. She took our book, Sisters Are From Heaven, and begin to read through it. When she got to the end, she looked at us and begin to ask some questions. My sister was taking the lead, as we often would so that neither one of us got tuckered out with all the talk and bustling around from making contacts and sales. The lady said, 'this is a very nice book and I really like it, BUT the God..' and then she made this anguished face...'if you can take the God out I can get a lot of people to buy the book'. At first I do not think Polly truly understood what the woman was saying. Heck we were both tired and it looked as though it took a minute to register. I rose to my feet ready to defend, but then my sister begin to speak. She did not say much except 'Take God out? No way'. The woman tried to defend her point 'well you have to understand that in the school system we have a lot of diversity and different beliefs and some parents don't want to see the word God in the story'. I begin to think we were on Candied Camera or the women was going to say we were being Punked or something. My sister said 'well then they do not have to buy it. We will never take God out of our story, the book is called Sisters Are From Heaven, so it is clear what that means.' I don't think it was so much what Polly said, it was how she said it. It was stated matter of fact and not open for further discussion and the woman understood that. She placed the book back on the pedestal and shrugged and said 'well' and walked off.

I giggled to myself as she and I discussed the nerve of some people to even suggest taking God out of our story after all He has done for us. Nothing seemed more outlandish to us. Has anyone every asked you to take something out or add something to your book or short story that you did not want to do? If so, how did you handle it?