As I view things, finding out what our true spiritual gifts are can be an awkward journey. There are those who believe that this discovery process is one of the most exciting adventures a person can have with God. Spiritual gifts are abilities that God has endowed every believer with for the good of the body of Christ. Truth be told, I am just now starting to figure out what my true gifts are. There are certainly things that I do, like volunteering to help with tear down of our church at one of its remote locations. But is this my gift? I am not so sure. It is certainly a necessary and important job, but I surmise that pretty much any able-bodied person could do it. Am I supposed to be doing other things where I can uniquely effect people? I don't know, maybe I should be doing something that would bring in new people or strengthen those that are having troubles. What about stepping up to do things that I might not necessarily like to do, but need to be done. Is this my gift? The bottom line is that there is only one way to find out. We must explore, and not just in those places where we are fully in our element. We need to try a number of different things to find out where we are supposed to be, where God is calling us to be, where our piece of the puzzle really fits.
So that you can at least appreciate my struggle to listen to God's call, I have volunteered to help out at the WEC church office contacting folks who are seeking information. I can't tell you just how uncomfortable I am doing this work. There are moments when I would rather walk down Jefferson Avenue during rush hour wearing a loud (but tasteful) dress than do this type of work. But I think the Lord has asked me to step up, to answer the call. I invite you to do the same. There is no time like the present. I think it boils down to the fact that our ultimate goal in life is not to be happy or content or even satisfied, it is to glorify God. (Part 2 of 3)
