Are you sitting with treasures inside you that are you wasting away every second of the day not activating?
Your gifts are inside you, God placed them there when He made a masterpiece – and yes, that’s you. Your gifts just need birthing but at the right time.
When you think of a woman, she was first a girl then she became a woman but her eggs were always there. When she become a woman, she gets pregnant and her eggs enters a conception stage. Over the next nine months her eggs will develop from an embryo to a developed fetus, after which she will give birth to a child of her own. However, in order for her to even give birth, she must first experience the process of labor where she will push her baby to come forth. What this lets me know is that when God place your gifts inside you, they will remain in a developmental stage for a while until you recognize you are pregnant with them, eventually you will give birth.
A teenage girl enters puberty by the evidence of a menstrual cycle, every month approximately 28 days apart on average. This will remind her every month she is not pregnant but has eggs inside her that are being released for approximately seven days. A teenage girl will recognize she is becoming a woman and can get pregnant at any time. Sometimes, a teenage girl will become pregnant and has to take on the role of motherhood, usually unprepared for the what the role entails.
When your gifts peak maturity you will become actively aware of them, sometimes operating in them at your maturity level, desiring interest and developing them as you grow. Your gifts are unique to you and differs from someone else’s even if the gifts appear to be the same. Children do not all come out looking the same but carry the physical characteristics of their parents. Your gifts, though designed in the image of God carries your unique qualities given to you specifically designed by God.
How do you know your gifts? You can have earthly gifts, which truly aren’t earthly but are meant to be used in the earth like drawing and being good with numbers but then you have heavenly gifts which directly impact the Kingdom of heaven, such as a prophecy and writing. When you think of gifts, simply ask what am I good at, and once you answer this question, ask how can I use my gift to make a difference in the world and impact heaven. Remember, your gifts are not yours but a gift from God, hence, the name “gift” – they were given to you.
For many years, I knew I was good at several things but as I grew into them I recognized they were gifts. It was not until I became saved, I began to operate in my gifts, such as sharing words of wisdom.
Everything I have said so far seem so easy, doesn’t it? What about the hundreds or thousands of people who are struggling to find purpose in life through their gifts? Well, I too had this question and to some extent I am still finding where my feet land.
For the past four years, I have been a journey of discovering what am I called to do in life, I have had the thought of becoming a college professor, clinical therapist, author and a motivational speaker. I have thought about going back to school and getting a doctorate in Pastoral Care, Social Work and another master’s degree in an unknown field but this was all to pass time. Why did I think about going back to school? It seemed like the right thing to do. School was my life for so long, it seemed like this was what I should do but I desired a break from it all. This does not mean I would never go back to school but again I say, what are my gifts? What brings joy to me every day?
Well, here I am a few years later reverting back to my love for counseling and therapy. After going back and forth on how to essentially convey my love for therapy without excluding faith, I am staring ahead to helping people by starting my own ministry and career. When I look back to a few years ago, I realized God was preparing me for this moment. There were many disappointments along the way but were they? Maybe they were steppingstones to place me where I am today. Plenty of interviews stopped at interviews, many applications were viewed without a response and many failures led to losing interest in my career. Nonetheless, here I am realizing I love helping people.
I found odd jobs to do, even started freelancing, discovered interest in building websites, photography and videography which I love but something was missing. I could not see how that was going to make a drastic change in my life and provide a substantial income. There were days I went back and forth to applying to jobs but it did not get anywhere, and I became even more discouraged when I noticed other people’s lives moving along nicely. What about me, God? What about me? Did I go to school all these years to sit in my parent’s house and not have my own space and income? Why did you create me? Why am I here? Question after question, frustration after frustration.
Discouragement became a great part of my life, and I turned to Netflix and anything I could find to take me away from the worthless feeling I experienced. I simply could not understand why so many people achieved success and accomplished their dreams so easily, and I had to struggle so hard to get nowhere close to mine.
As time went on, I lost interest and anything I did such as recording YouTube videos, I did it for the sake of doing it. Truth is, though God spoke to me about YouTube, sharing my story and giving wisdom felt way too personal. This was not something I signed up for as I am truly a private person. I did not realize how difficult this would be for me!
But God gave me a gift to help people through words of wisdom, therapy and has gifted me with the tools necessary to intercede and pray people through, so why was I making this about me and not about God who gave me the gift? Well, I was fearful, scared of what the future hold. Uncommon favor describes my journey – a journey that will take unexpected turns and require faith to finish the race. Little did I know that when I repented and surrendered to God, I would have to walk this journey not with my own eyes but completely dependent on the voice of God. Remember Jesus said, my sheep know my voice, and I know them, and they follow me? [John 10:27], Well, this is my life. Having faith and hearing God’s voice is one thing but not following or obeying His voice is another.
The Spirit of God said to me, faith without works is dead. [James 2:17]. What was He saying? You have faith in all I have said to you, spoken over your life but you are not working towards them. Hence, your faith is dead if you are not working towards them so it is important to not only believe in Me but to activate your faith in everything you do. Therefore, the gifts God has put inside you, do not keep them there but birth them and nurture them well. A woman has faith when she gives birth by pushing through the pain and this is what we are required to do. It does not matter how long it takes to see the results of your gifts, you must birth it and nurture it until you see the results.
“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”[Philippians 1:6].