Through the Seasons

What’s your gifting?  What are you good at?  How could God use you?

I’ve asked myself those questions and honestly never could come up with an answer.  I’m not a people person and I’m not creative.  I’m not particularly good with kids and I’m not a born leader.  I don’t dance or sing or paint. 

In one of our training classes we had to go through a process of discovering our gifts.  Each time I have this opportunity I approach it with a hopeful heart but usually leave as lost as I when I started.  But this time was different.  The trainer of the class was a lot like me so when he listed off his gifts I thought, “Those are gifts?  Well, those things I do like second nature.”  Things such as planning, organizing, going step-by-step through processes, working with numbers, and thinking critically.

Exciting, right?  Not for me.  I want some fun gifts – like playing music or teaching or hostessing.  But at some point I have to realize what I’m good at and do that – with all my heart.  That’s why I’m gladly going to Tanzania to do accounting.  I realized that they desperately need someone with my gifting and right now they have no one with what I could bring naturally.  Amazing.  It makes accounting almost sound exciting, doesn’t it?  I’ll be able to take the ‘numbers’ load off the project managers so they can focus on translating and developing literacy programs.  They’ll be able to use their gifts to full measure because I’m using my gifts to support them.

At our Christmas Eve service at Elevation one of the staff approached me about helping him set up their accounting system and get it up and running.  I’ll help him as much as I can because I want to use the gifts God has given me.  I won’t be preaching the gospel, going on hospital visits or a mission trip.  I’ll be sitting in an office all by myself entering data – but still making a difference.  That’s pretty cool, I think.

I realize now that I couldn’t discover my gifts because I didn’t think of my gifts as gifts.  They were there all along.  I was blind to them because they came so naturally and at the same time felt bad about how I wasn’t gifted in any of the areas I saw as really important.  But God gave me the gifts I have and uses me how He intends to use me.  Amazing!

A friend told me one time, “God wanted one of YOU and nowhere on earth was there one of YOU so He carefully made YOU.”  That’s an interesting way to look at it.  Sometimes I can get wrapped up in how special our pastor is… or Beth Moore… or Elisabeth Elliot…  But He wanted one of ME.  I have things these great people don’t have – even if my gifting doesn’t appear all that glamorous to me or even to others.  I’m exactly who God made me to be so I am grateful and determined to be the best ME as possible.

So what are your gifts?  Is there anything you are naturally good at that God can use but you’d rather be like someone else?  God also wanted one of YOU and nowhere on earth was there one of YOU so He carefully made YOU.  Whatever your talents are, commit them to Him and allow Him to use and multiply them for His kingdom.  If He can use an accountant for His glory, He can use anyone, any skills, any gifts.  He invented those gifts and gave them to you.  Be grateful for who you are and what you’re good at.  If the world says you or your talents are insignificant, they’ll have to take it up with the Creator. 

Go in peace, serve the Lord.

And whatever you do in word and deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  ~Colossians 3:17

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I heard recently of an NFL football coach whose life’s goal was winning the Super Bowl.  When he did win, he said it was the biggest letdown of his life.  It didn’t feel like he always dreamed it would.  I wonder if he was trying to find purpose, fulfillment, and significance in winning that big game.

Have you ever been on a mission trip, participated in a ministry, or done something nice for someone and felt a ‘rush’?  When I went to Honduras I felt like I was serving a purpose and doing something significant.  Coming back from that to enter back into my ordinary life doing my ordinary job was a letdown for me.  I felt I wasn’t doing anything valuable anymore.  I felt I wasn’t as valuable anymore.

There is such a temptation for Christians to find their value outside of Jesus Christ.  We are significant because we are children of God.  Nothing else.  Not because we have led X number of people to Christ.  Not because we are on X number of church committees.  We have the opportunity to serve God out of love and gratitude but if we don’t serve we are still valuable to Him. 

What this used to equate to for me was having a list of rules.  The do’s such as reading my Bible, praying, going to church, and serving in structured ways.  The don’t’s which were only what I perceived as ‘the biggies’ that aren’t even temptations for me and all sin is sin anyway.  (So my worrying is a sin but I ignored that while feeling pretty good about myself because I wasn’t involved in homosexual practices.  Go me.)  The dynamic of having a relationship with Jesus was gone.  And can I tell you how motivating shame and guilt are?  Zero.  Now that I am breaking free from the should’s and ought to’s, I serve more often, in more ways, and more fervently than I ever have before. 

Jesus said we are to be witnesses.  That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re to walk up to strangers, spill an evangelism outline to them, and mark that task off our list.  Have you ever noticed what happened when Jesus healed people?  I haven’t studied to know if it happened every time but I know it happened often.  The person would be healed and they would just rejoice and praise God.  Through that, others would be amazed and praise God too. 

I don’t believe the only way we are witnesses is by becoming pastors and missionaries.  I believe the strongest witnessing we can do is praising God while we’re doing the task God sets before us.  If we can be joyful in our jobs, in our housework, in our daily errands… that is a HUGE testimony.  How many people do you know who love the mundane parts of their lives?  We wouldn’t either if Jesus wasn’t right there with us.  He has promised us joy.  Let’s receive it, praise God for it, and live our testimony.  I believe these are the times those who are struggling through life without Christ will see the hope we have and want it for themselves. 

So, just in case you didn’t know, YOU are significant and valuable because you are a child of God.  Let us be full of joy and praise God!

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No need to worry.  I’m not really blue.    But you know how some people have holiday depression.  I must have the post-holiday funk.  Or maybe it’s just the exhaustion talking. 

We got back from our traveling a couple of hours ago and now I can take a deep breath.  It just hit me that I will have to un-decorate the RV tomorrow.  Here’s my list: take lights down from outside and put away the following: santa hat, 4 ornaments that are hanging on top of a floor lamp, chewing gum countdown to Christmas thing (that my mom made for me when I was little), the 2 stockings hanging above the couch (1 of which my mom made for me when I was little), and the many Christmas cards we’ve received this year.  So that won’t be too bad.  In just a week we’ll be ringing in a brand new year so that (and a little sleep) should melt away any remaining blues from Christmas being over.

Our Christmas was great and one we won’t forget.  We spent a couple days with my parents at their home in Hickory.  We went out to eat and to see “We Are Marshall” (yes, I just yelled that out in my mind).  Great movie!  My mom cooked A LOT (for which we are so grateful!) and we did our gift exchange.  Honestly, the best part for me was watching them open their gifts.  That’s always so much fun!  They gave us a ton of great stuff (including a necklace I love and will wear every day so you’ll eventually get to see it).  We left there right after the big Christmas Eve meal in much need of a nap but we pressed on to Jonathan’s brother’s house in Lake Wylie.

That evening, we went to Elevation Church in South Charlotte (at which it SNOWED).  The service was special and honored Jesus (and rocked!).  Jonathan’s mom went with us and even endured the loud music.  This morning we got to watch Jonathan’s brother’s kids open their gifts from Santa.  I haven’t seen a “Santa came last night” present frenzy like that in a long time!  We all eventually got through all of our gifts (we got a lot of thoughtful stuff).  Again, watching others (especially the kids) was the highlight of the morning.   

But now we’re home.  Things are getting somewhat back to normal.  Football is being played (and hopefully the Cowboys are being creamed).  I put on some of my new pajamas and have plenty of leftovers from mom’s in our fridge which has 2 benefits – good eating and no cooking.  Oh yeah!  This food includes half of a chocolate pound cake.  I only brought half because we ate the other half while we were there.  Yum.

Thank you to our families for a great Christmas! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful time this weekend and are ready to reflect on 2006, welcome 2007, and make some resolutions that you’ll absolutely commit to for the entire first week of January (and then after that – all bets are off). 

Now.  As Santa says:  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

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The Nyiha are a large people group. A New Testament was published in 1913, but it is no longer available, nor is it easily read these days because the language has changed over the years. The Nyiha have a growing church but many also follow traditional religion. They would rejoice to have a Bible in their own language.
 
Geography and Climate: The land where they live is dry, flat savanna.
 
Population: 250,000
 
Cultural Information: Traditionally weavers, iron workers, hunters, and some own cattle, goats and poultry. The Nyiha grow cash crops of maize, millet and coffee. There are some big coffee farms in the area which were operated by foreigners about 50 years ago. Some of these first coffee farmers translated agricultural books into the Nyiha language.
 
Language Group Information: There are quite a few Nyiha who have higher education and see the need of having the language developed. The farmers are very excited when they hear about the project and can hardly imagine that there is help available for their mother tongue.
 
People from many other people groups are now also living in the traditional Nyiha homeland.  This mix of people has encouraged even faster language change than in other parts of the country.      
 
In order to reach out and evangelize the pockets of unreached Nyiha and to strengthen the Church a new Nyiha Bible translation is necessary. Nyiha want to read and understand the Bible in modern language that will speak to their hearts and will be able to transform individual lives and the Nyaiha community as a whole.
 
Religion: Christian, Traditional 
 
The Nyiha Church: The Nyiha have one hundred year old church history, where Moravian, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran Churches are the largest in the area.
 

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My education started the day I left school. 

~Mark Twain

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My posting may be a bit sporadic over the next few days because I’ll be doing what most of you will be doing.  Visiting family, opening gifts, eating too much… that sort of thing.

I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas. 

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