Share Your God-Given Gift!

October 3, 2003

           You are valuable and important to God.  You have a gift within you, given especially by him.

            It doesn’t take me very long to recognize God’s special gift in a person.  It becomes apparent through conversation, compassion, attitudes and personality.

            One of my friends has the gift of encouragement.  She seems to know when I need it the most.  Another has the gift of laughter.  He teases me about my peanut brittle.  He likes to ask about my new “highway formula for black topping.”  My teacher friend is sensitive to my need of prayer.  My sister-in-law has the gift of caring.  Her children know the depth of her sacrificial love.

            Other friends have gifts in special professions.  They love what they do and are so good at it.  Deep down in every person is a God-given gift.  I believe that gift is given for a specific reason…to bless others.  Our happiness comes from sharing that gift.

            I could not be happy if I didn’t write about God’s love.  It is burning within me and I can’t lock it up inside.  I feel if I didn’t share it, I would lose it.

            I shall never forger dear Dr. Vincent Ogburn.  Many years ago at Eastern in freshmen English Composition class he wrote across my first college theme:  “I don’t know what you’re going to do with this, but do something with it.”  I gasped as I gazed at the “A+” written on it.  His statement stayed with me for the next 25 years.

            After college graduation, marriage, three little boys and a teaching career, I had plenty to write about.  I wrote a devotional, inspired by the faith of our youngest child.  To my amazement, it was accepted and published.  Success tasted so sweet.  “There’s nothing to it,” I told myself.

            But the euphoria didn’t last.  I must have spent a fortune in postage in those beginning years.  Every rejection (and there were many) put out my fire.  I thought about papering my office with rejection letters.

            One by one, our three boys grew up and left our nest.  At each one’s departure, I fell apart.  By the time our last son left, I was a big bag of runaway emotions.  Writing down my feelings became a release.  It helped me work through my tears and loneliness.  Before I knew it, I had written seven double-spaced pages of memories, humor and love from a mother’s point of view.  I titled it “I Couldn’t Let Go of My Children, so They Let Go of Me.’

            Having worked through this milestone of my life, I sent my story to a publisher and they snapped it up right away.  That turned me on to writing, except this time I was older and wiser.

            I now experience a deeper level.  I am experiencing intrinsically something that touches me deeply and I am compelled to share it.  In this light, rejections lose importance. Writing is something I must do.  It is my passion.  It is my ticket for using my gift to inspire, encourage and uplift a hurting soul.

            Yes, it takes perseverance to share your God-given gift and you must never give up.  The world needs you and I need you!

            At a recent book signing a customer walked over to my table.

            “Are you somebody?”

            “Yes,” I replied…somebody who writes for Jesus.

            He’s the real “SOMEBODY!”