Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are something I’ve been thinking about for the past 9 months or so.  More specifically I’ve been asking myself what are the gifts that God has given me?   I remember going on a walk with Kelsey when we were still getting to know each other and asking her about spiritual gifts.  Neither of us were sure as to what our gifts were at the time but after much thought and prayer I think I now have an idea. 

The Bible mentions several spiritual gifts: faith, healing, prophecy, tongues, and even interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:9-10

I’m not sure that my gift is any of those but I do believe my blog is tool for one of my gifts.  I think I have a way of reaching people through my blogs.  I must selfishly admit I may write these posts for myself to express my feelings at the time but I hope it speaks to others as well.  By providing a written testimony of what God has presented to me through trails and triumphs, I pray I’m bringing others closer to Him as well.  I believe spiritual gifts allow us to carry out God’s work. 

Another thing I’ve been thinking and even touched slightly on in a previous post, Compartmentalizing Faith, is how God calls us to our secular jobs in the lines of our gifts.  I want to go more into detail now as to what this means to me. 

In Ephesians 4, apostle Paul talks about how some of us are called to be teachers of God’s people to do work that builds up the body of Christ. 

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Ephesians 4:11-13

Ok It’s about to get weird now.  But what if we think of this in a literal since?  What I mean is what if we think that we all are actually a body part of Christ created to carry out a specific function within the body.  Every body part is just as important as the next because they are all needed to make up the whole. (see 1 Corinthians 12) So incorporating spiritual gifts, our gifts are not meant for ourselves but are meant to benefit the entire group or body.  Each person has a unique gift that helps build up the body of Christ. 

This may be cheesy but I think I may be the ear in the body of Christ.  Going to school for Audiology it just makes the most sense right? Haha I think God created me with the brains and willpower to make it through this program so I can help others with their hearing issues.  God gave me the passion I have for this field.  It is in all of my intentions to use the gifts He has given me for His glory :)

I borrowed/stole this picture from a guy from church's twitter account.  A bunch of us hanging out and chatting.  I <3 Instagram

  

Community

Sunday was the perfect day.  I was in such a good mood all day.  The weather was amazing and it turned out to be a very productive day for me.  I went to the Rivercross church for the second time, caught up with a friend from UNC and completed 1.5 projects that are on my never ending to do list. 

In my last post I mentioned how seeking community in the church has been a focus of mine, well I think I’ve finally found a good starting point.  The past 9 months I’ve been hopping church to church trying to find someplace I fit in.  I think I must have been pretty lucky to find a church so quickly in Chapel Hill (once I started looking) because it’s been a lot harder here.  When I first moved to Gainesville I was trying really hard to find a group of people I could connect to in the Christian community, but when I didn’t find anything right away I became discouraged. 

Well a few weeks ago, I told my roommate that I wanted to become more serious about this search.  I needed to make it a priority.  Last week we visited Rivercross Baptist Church and liked it very much.  It’s smaller (like a Gilmore girls Stars Hollow kind of feel) and the people seemed to be connected more so than I’ve observed in previous churches.  I really liked that.  Before the service started a lot of people were gathered around a table set up with muffins, coffee cake, pastries and coffee chatting.  It looked really nice so, guess what Kelsey and I did?  We avoided that muffin table at all costs. We bee-lined straight to the room where the service was going to take place.  Afterwards, more college kids were hanging at the table.  We had a second chance and guess what? We avoided the table again.  hahah that wasn’t what you were expecting from someone who says they want community was it?  Yea I know.

So all last week I prayed about finding community, and the courage to introduce myself to people I didn’t know.   I told Kelsey Saturday night that I wanted to go back to Rivercross and she agreed that she wanted to go again too.  I think my roommate and I both want similar things in a church and we felt like Rivercross had a potential.  But if we were going to give any church a shot we had to stick around and try to really get to know the people.  A church after all is not a building but the group of people who worship together.

I told her this time we had to talk to people..somehow we just had to find a way to do it.  I also told her and we need to focus on talking to the girls at the church.  I naturally tend to associate with guys in unfamiliar settings.  I’m not sure why but it just feels like less pressure.  But what I’m wanting is community in the church and more specifically I want to connect with a group of girls that I can talk to, support and pray for and have them do the same for me. 

So yesterday came and we went back.  I’m happy to say that we didn’t avoid the muffin table this time :)  However, the people we were talking to were guys.  Exactly what I didn’t want to do…haha but there I was talking to the guys.  It was comfortable.  After church we went to bible study and sat next to the guys and continued chatting.  It was nice, they were nice…but still not what I had in mind.  After about 20 minutes everyone calmed down and they were about to begin when someone announced that they were going to do something out of the ordinary.  They split the girls from the guys for bible study.  I think God was listening :)  I had a great time with the girls chatting and getting to know them.  We didn’t go into anything too deep but it was nice.  The leaders of the bible study are a young couple.  They said that they weren’t sure about splitting the group and had talked about it Saturday night.  I’m so glad they decided to go ahead and do that.  It gave me just the push I needed :)

I think God was listening to Kelsey and I talk the night before and He laid it on the hearts of the couple to split the group.  He was answering my prayers.  Such a great feeling!  I’m looking forward to going to Rivercross again and getting to know everyone even more.  Making new friends makes me so happy.  Maybe thats why it was such a great day :)

I’m headed in the right direction.  Thank you Lord for your guidance.

Wow I didn't intend for this to go on and on...feeling a little wordy today haha