Okay, so I was a little shocked when I took the Spiritual Gifts Discovery Survey and read the assessment of my gifts. Want to know my top two? Of course you do — exhortation and faith. I kept reading over and over the definitions and the Scripture passages. Well, I guess, God has tweaked my gifts a little. I used to ‘score’ really high in intersession and music. Does that mean I don’t pray any more or I am less ‘effective’ with my prayers? I don’t think so. I pray/talk to God all day long…Okay, so I don’t sing currently in the praise team, but I do still sing to my Lord in my car, at home, in my heart…
Maybe exhortation and faith were always my strong gifts, but I didn’t listen to Him? You see, I had a thing about being ‘public’ for my God…See the problem? “For my God” – I think He does very well on His own, don’t you? Exhortation on the other hand – is a little behind the scenes. I can exhort my sister in faith without making it ‘public’. The real shocker was the gift of faith (yeah Carol, I did retake the test, just to make sure :grin:).
Looking back though — I think I stepped out many times in faith and knew that He would ‘come’ through for me. For example – when we left Germany 16 years ago. I had a comfortable life, but not much room for God. Many of my friends thought that I was crazy ‘giving it all up’ and start all over again. I have to say – it was the best move we have made. God was back in the driver-seat – not me! Although I still have days, where I waiver and ask “Are you sure You want me to do this?”…Like resigning my job of 6 years at a church office. I was comfortable there — but than things happened that I couldn’t support with my beliefs…I prayed for over six months and kept asking “Are You sure?” Well, I stepped out in faith — and again He was there to put things in order for me…
The two other gifts I ‘scored’ high on: mercy and pastor (by the way you can find all the definitions here). Those two I actually feel ‘comfortable’ with (okay – I see a pattern here – comfortable :shock:)…
Well, I do ‘feel exceptional empathy and compassion for those who are suffering so that I devote large amounts of time and energy to alleviate it’ (definition of mercy). And my favorite ‘public’ ministry is Bible study and I hope that I will soon have a home-based study again….
Looking at the gifts God has developed in me over the years — does it mean that I can not share the Good News with un-believers? By no means – I will share God’s grace and love with anyone who will listen. Does it mean that I can/will not support the Kingdom of God with my finances – no, of course not!
Over the last couple of years I started to understand that I can not put God into a box. He keeps shaping me to glorify Him and not myself. He is my Master, I am His students – and not the other way around.
“They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.” ~ Acts 14:21-22 (NIV)
This journey has really made me think about my walk with Him. Thank you Heather for taking me out of my comfort zone…To read other women’s gifts, please visit Heather at Graced by Christ.
I wish my faith was stronger. I’d love to rank high as that being one of my gifts. =)
We all have a story, and as I listened to David Jeremiah today, I realized maybe I need to write mine and I then I’d see how faithful He has been to me all along.
Thanks for sharing, Iris.
Yup, looking from the outside I can definittely see that those are your gifts. I mean, you have already used each of them amazingly through your blogs. Sometimes we don’t see things that those around us see all the time and when we do the inventory and are surprised the others see it right off while we are still trying to sort it through. My hubby has seen it in me and was not the least bit surprised at my shift from helps service to faith and exhortation over the last 8 months. I have also noticed (and mentioned the trend elsewhere) but we all seem to have banded together here and seem to be showing similar sets of gifts. If we were all showing exactly the same ones I would begin to question the test, but instead we seem to be overlapping in surprising places. For instance I am noticing that the majority are coming out with Faith pretty high though those who don’t seem to have knowledge or teaching high. Seems to me that those who are willing to show their faith, exhort others, and teach like this on their blog might be the ones who would do this (instead of having similar personalities as I first suspected.)
What has me surprised here is no mention of Encouragement. I really see this gift amplified in you.
I’d be interested in having someone who knows me well take the test for me – like my sister or husband. They might be a little more objective than I am.
Thanks for doing this study along side us, Iris!