Unpacking the Gifts God Gave You

I recently saw a craft stamp that fits this message perfectly-
"Everyone is gifted. Some just open the package sooner." The illustration is a woman eagerly opening a package. That is how we should look...eagerly, actively opening the gifts God has given us.

Garth gave us such great outlines to follow...no excuses, ladies! We know that we have them...so now we need to Discover (need help...Serving 301!) our gifts, Dedicate them, Develop and Deploy them.

One of the things that really struck me in the message was under the Dedicate "tab" when Garth encouraged us to replace things...Replace rejection with investigation...if you are a mother, when your child has difficulties with something you know he can do, you encourage him to try again and again...maybe in a different way...maybe with our help for a while. Sometimes we think that if God wants us to do something, it will be easy...I don't see scripture backing that. Being a Christian is hard work, folks. (Just like any other worthwhile relationship). I think we often give up too quickly . Learn from difficulties and failures; ask questions of yourself, of other mature Christians, of God. Listen. Regroup. Try again.

Don't save the "paper and ribbon" around the gifts God gave you. Rip it open!

Using Your Abilities with Pierre Leger

When Pierre was describing how he started helping the farmers of his region, a message that Pastor Dennis preached years ago about "Servant Leadership" came to mind. Jesus led this way...he came and served the people rather than taking a traditional ruler's position of having the people serve Him. It seems that this has been Pierre's approach as well...and look at the results.

God Bless Haiti and Pierre's business endeavors.

Let's remember to pray for the coming Leadership Summit here and in Haiti.

Using Your Ablilities

Pastor Dennis quoted Romans 12:6 in his message about our abilities. Going through the Scriptures, I read the verses surrounding this verse and felt the importance of knowing our God given abilities.

Romans12:4-8 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

It's not just for us to know what we do well...it helps us function in the Church and therefore helps us bring hope to the world.

Let's do what we do well for Jesus!

Following Your Heart

While Pastor Dennis showed us ways to follow our hearts ( Open it, Let God Heal it, Listen to it, Look at options, Launch out in faith), I wrote in my notes-

Passion vs Emotions

Especially as woman, I think we can get caught up in the emotions of something. We often make life-changing decisions based on emotions and oh my when the emotions shift....I think it's important this week to sift through what my passions, real Godly passions in my life versus the stuff from emotions...a passion would survive a long burn instead of the quick burn of emotions.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. Proverbs 19:2

At First Saturday, Sandy gave us tools to get our lives more organized. I think that we should consider "organizing" our hearts as well. Let's use the heart tools that Pastor Dennis gave us and begin to sort through our hearts this week.

Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires. Psalm 37:4