Day 31 – Understanding Your Shape
Only you can be you….
God designed you with no other duplicates. Only you can be the person that you were designed to be and make the unique contribution that only you can make… if you don’t make it, it won’t be made.
In the last posting we looked at the first two letters of the word SHAPE.
Spiritual Gifts and Heart. Now we will look at the letter A…. This stands for your Abilities.
Your abilities are the natural talents that you were born with and all of our abilities come from God. We may have used these talents to do get ahead in school, communicate effectively, love animals, get a job and earn a living or learn a trade, be artistic or write well.. the list goes on… but here’s an interesting fact. Studies have shown that the average person has over 500-700 different skills and abilities. Many of them just lie dormant until we find them..or allow them to be recognized.
Our brains can handle over 15,000 decisions a second, our noses can smell over 10,000 different odors, we can taste minute amounts of a specific ingredient, and we can feel and touch things that are 1/25,000 of an inch thick… it’s simply amazing.. and many times we limit ourselves and think that we have nothing to offer… this couldn’t be further from the truth… we have tremendous abilities and gifts to offer!
Many times we “secularize” these abilities and say that they are not “spiritual,” however every ability can be used for God’s glory. What we are able to do, God wants us to do. If you can’t carry a tune, God won’t want you to be the lead singer, however the ability that you do have, you can use. Just look at what you can do…and enjoy doing…and that would be a great clue.
Another area that we can serve God with is our personality. Your unique God given personality is yours and yours alone. Maybe you don’t like parts of it…maybe you do… the simple fact is that your personality is a gift and uniquely yours. Nobody else can be YOU…
God made some of us extroverts, some introverts. Some like action and variety, some like it quiet and routine. Some people tend to be very thoughtful and analytical, some emotional and “feelers.” Some work better alone, others work better in a team. “God works through different people in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purpose through them all.” I Cor. 12:6 God uses all types of personalities and there is no right or wrong type…it’s all His type..
Our different personalities all reflect the different hues, shades and colors of God’s creation. Thank God you have the exact personality you have. It’s now time to learn how to use it for His purpose.
The last letter of our acronym is the letter E. This is for your Experiences. You are shaped by what you have experienced and what you will experience. Some of the past may have been challenging, some delightful, but all of it has shaped who you are today.
What many of us do not realize is that it’s painful experiences that most shape us. Who is best equipped to share and empathize with a person who has a child born with autism or Down syndrome, but a person or family who has had to deal with it. Who can share the pain of divorce and help someone through the other side to healing better than someone who has had to experience that pain? What about the person who has a family member dying? Could it be those of us who have been through it, understand it? The list can go on and on… the point here is that our learning experiences are ones that can be used to comfort and bring love to the hurting, lost and dying. “He comforts us in all of our troubles so tha twe can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” II Cor. 1:4
Can we even get our minds around how God intentionally allows us to go through painful experiences to equip and prepare us to minister to others? For God to use them, they must not be rehearsed in our minds with resentment and regret. They can be openly shared so God can show others that, well, first of all, we are human… and second if we are open and share these experiences, God will be able to use them. People are always encouraged when we share that God took us through a similar experience and from our weakness were made stronger.
This is how God has “shaped” us. He gives us spiritual gifts, though an open heart, with unique abilities, personalties, and life experience. You are most effective when you recognize these areas, appreciate and rejoice in them. God will use all of you for his glory…