Our music minister and his wife (Dale and Esther Julian) performed
the special music one Sunday morning. Their strength and ability carried me
into a time of beautiful worship of our Lord and Savior. After the service, I
told Esther how their music ministered to me and she told me she gets nervous.
I said, “It was awesome. I couldn’t do it.” Esther replied, “Well I couldn’t do
what you do.”
What is(are) your gift(s) and calling(s)? How are you preparing to fulfill yours?
That conversation made me think about God’s gifts and
callings in the lives of all His children. Remembering Esther’s nervousness
brought this cliché to my mind: “out of my comfort zone.” We all struggle with doing
things God’s way. We often look at situations with human eyes and minds and
consider what might seem to be the easier way.
Both Dale and Esther attended college to prepare for their
ministry. They didn’t just learn how to sing and play musical instruments but
how to polish the gift and call God had placed in their spirits. Nursing school
didn’t call me to be a nurse. God had given me the gift and call and school was
my opportunity to become what God had planned for my life. When I began writing,
Earl gave me a computer. It was a tool that I used to hone my skills in that
gift and call from God.
What is(are) your gift(s) and calling(s)? How are you preparing to fulfill yours?
“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I
do not want you to be uninformed…There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit
distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is
the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given
for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of
wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one
Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another
distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of
tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the
work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as
he determines” (1 Cor 12:1, 4-11 NIV).
In Christian Love,
Berta
For your personal spiritual gift inventory go to http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.8051415/
Thank you for the link to the UM gift survey. I took it and found one of the ones I thought was evident from other surveys I took in the past was neither a primary or secondary. I am confused about this.
ReplyDeleteI received this comment via email from my friend and Christian sister:
ReplyDeleteGood writing! I think of the saying,"You have come a long way, baby!" Yes, God gave you a gift of nursing and you are still nursing-just in a different way. You minister to the spirit!Thanks for ministering to me through your writing. Agnes