Spiritual GPS

Thank you Mary Southerland for today’s message:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).

GPS has changed our lives. So much so that many people today cannot even read a map. We don’t have a clue how to figure out North, South, East and West. We don’t have to.

We have GPS. Global Positioning Satellite systems.

We have it in our phones.

We have it in our watches.

We have it in our cars.

GPS has changed our lives. It helps us know where we are going and how to get there.

To pursue God’s calling in my life, I must discover my spiritual GPS.

The G in spiritual GPS is gifts. Finding God’s calling for your life begins with gifts. The spiritual gifts God has given you. The supernatural, better than your average bear abilities He has put within you. When God calls you to do something, He gives you the gifts that will enable you to do it. God’s plan never lacks God’s resources.

Check out the first part of Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship (His own master work, a work of art)” (Ephesians 2:10a, AMP).

You sometimes have to give some thought and effort to discovering your spiritual gifts.

Here are three of mine:

• Teaching is one of my spiritual gifts. I have always had the ability to take complex truths and make them simple. I thought and often still do think that everyone can do that. Not true. I call it “putting the cookies on the bottom shelf.”
• Encouraging is one of my gifts. I often spell “encourage” as “in courage” – because when you encourage someone, you pour courage into them.
• Laughter is one of my gifts. I can make people laugh. Sometimes they laugh with me. Sometimes they laugh at me. But they laugh. And the Bible tells us that laughter is good medicine.

God placed those gifts in my life when He created me in my mother’s womb. The more I use them, the more they grow.

We all have gifts that God has given us. We need to know what they are. Because they are hints at God’s plan and design and calling for our lives.

So, the “G” in spiritual GPS is gifts.

The P in spiritual GPS is passion.

Ever notice how different people are passionate about different things?

We had a tornado this week in the area just West of Kansas City. Some of our church members are so passionate about helping people, they simply had to go do something. My son and daughter-in-law took a day off of work to go help their neighbors. Some of those neighbors lived less than a quarter mile away from them – and lost everything. There were so many people showing up to help that the police had to turn some people away because of the unusually heavy traffic on the rural Kansas road that runs through the area.

Back to the next part of Ephesians 2:10. “For we are created in Christ Jesus (reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used).”

Reborn …

Transformed …

Renewed …

Ready to be used …

Sounds like passion to me!

I have been speaking for women’s conferences and writing books and devotions for women for 30 years. I love it. Why? It lets me do what God created me to do. It fits my gifts – encouragement, leadership and teaching. It fits my passion – helping people become everything God created them to be.

So, the G in GPS stands for Gifts.

And the P in GPS stands for Passion.

The S in GPS stands for Story.

God – who designed me with a purpose in mind – is writing my story. He has been writing my story all of my life. The Bible tells us that He knew who we would be before He even created the world. The Bible tells us that He planned our story while we were still in the womb. The plan came first!

He is writing His story in and through you and me. And that story – our experiences, good and bad – helps us find our calling.

Back one more time to Ephesians 2:10 for the last part of that verse: “For we are created … for good works, which God prepared (for us) beforehand so that we would walk in them (living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us).

Did you catch what that verse says? God created you for doing good. God has prepared and gifted you to do good. God has given you passion for doing good. He is writing a good story in and through us!

Throughout the course of your life, God has been at work in you. Writing His story. Giving you the desire and the ability to do what He has created you to do. Why have these gifts and passions always been present in your life? Because they are part of your story.

God will help you discover your spiritual GPS – your calling.

You will find it in your gifts.

You will find it in your passion.

You will find it in your story.

Have a blessed day!

TRUST

Who is ready to kick on the NEW YEAR?  I know, we don’t have a lot of choice, right?  For many, this is a day to re-coup from last night’s festivities while others will begin to work on their New Year’s resolutions.  I don’t make resolutions or at least I don’t call them that – I make a list of things that I want to accomplish in the new year.  For me, resolutions goals that we are doomed to fail at and then toss aside.

Each year I select a word for the year.  I search long and hard for it.  I pray for the right word because it will be my focus for the year.  When the going gets rough, I will rely on IT to bring me back to focus on my desired list of accomplishments.  This is Year 3 – first it was FAITH (pre-blogging) and last year it was EMBRACE.  And I did EMBRACE all that came my way which wasn’t always easy.  Although change can be AWESOME, it isn’t always easy, right?

As usual, I was looking for a word that would be life changing.  Of course, I was comparing it to what I thought it should be and what others might use.  The truth is that God was truly in control.  The first word that came into my head was ‘TRUST”.  THEN I became looking for other words – but the word TRUST kept creeping back in.  Was God trying to tell me that I had TRUST issues?  WOW!  That is for a whole other blog.

Why couldn’t I just “TRUST” that this was the right word?  So I went looking for a verse that would help me to understand what God was trying to tell me. Here is what I found:

Trust is defined as “a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something” and as “acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation.”  It is the second definition that really got my attention.  Or maybe it was the SMACK on the head?  Faith and Trust are intertwined which is why it was so hard for me to accept this as my word for the year.  I mean I had FAITH, right?  I had spent a whole year working to EMBRACE the changes and the blessings, right?

When I read Proverbs 3:5-6, I realized that I still lean on my own understanding of things.  I still want to fix things.  I still want to take action when I don’t think God has answered my prayers in MY time frame.  I really need to TRUST the process.  I need to lean on God for ALL things and TRUST him to direct my path.  Which doesn’t mean that I should take control when things don’t go my way.  Hmm??? This could be a year of growth in a BIG way – personally and in my business.  Was I ready for it?  Was I ready to TRUST the process no matter what the outcome?  God is in control and I TRUST that he will direct my path.  I have FAITH in his ability to provide for my needs.  I will EMBRACE the blessings that he will send my way.

If you could pick ONE word for this year, what would it be?  Share it with us…

Best wishes for a safe, healthy and happy New Year!

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

#embrace #faith #partywithHope #dream #proverbs3:5-6 #trust #believe #reflect #recharge