Frustrated Instead of Fulfilled?
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My friend Victoria volunteered to teach Sunday school while her daughters were young. Although she taught well, her efforts drained her. If I'm not having fun, she wondered, are the children enjoying it?
When our prayer group helped us identify our spiritual gifts, Victoria's strongest gift was administration.
"I feel so relieved!" she told us. And after that night, she quit teaching and supported the Sunday school ministry she loved by finding substitute teachers, keeping supply bins stocked and labeled, and setting out supplementary materials for each week's topic. Everyone benefited from her gifting and she loved the work.
That's how spiritual gifts should be: When God empowers you to serve others through your spiritual gifts and you've found the places where God wants you to use them, you're more alive and fulfilled than during any other pursuit. You might even have fun!
The word passion is defined as "a powerful emotion." Its synonym is enthusiasm. The word enthusiasm comes from the Greek phrase en theos, "with God." So if you're enthusiastically pursuing a passion that God has put in your heart, you're doing it with God.
Frederick Buechner put it this way: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." To search for this kind of passion isn't a selfish quest for fulfillment; rather, it's looking for the exact thing God designed you to do.
If your gifts aren't bringing you joy, consider these possibilities:
You're using your gifts in the wrong place.
Determining where to use your gifts can be just as important as identifying them.
Terri, who handled finances for a nonprofit firm, had the gift of administration. The job seemed to be a good fit, yet she struggled to enjoy it. Since she also had a passion for children, she took an identical position with a children's hospital and found the joy she'd been missing. And she discovered a new use for her gifts: She started a children's hospital mission in Haiti. Besides raising funds and organizing teams and resources, Terri traveled frequently to Haiti to oversee the arrangements. Drudgery turned to fulfillment.
To some, using their gifts sounds risky. It might mean change or uncertainty; it could result in criticism or even failure. During a course I was teaching, I mentioned that my first career was as a financial controller. A participant asked, "What if you'd stayed in finance?" I quipped that I'd be deep in accounting reports, bored to tears. Privately, though, I thought of the classes I'd have never taught. My career change was a huge risk, but it brought me more in line with how God made me and has led to greater fulfillment.
You're in a season of waiting.
When a mother of four preschoolers told me she felt guilty that she wasn't volunteering more, we discussed "seasons of waiting." Sometimes your plate is too full to use your gifts in new ways—perhaps because of illness, new responsibilities, or other circumstances.
Related Topics:
Discernment, Encouragement, Expectations, Spiritual Gifts
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Average User Rating:
Chanell
This article was very enlightening and right on time! I have been reconsidering my current career path and this has confirmed my need to seek God about the use of my gifts in a different area. Thanks so much!
dorothy
This article makes me to seek God and to ask myself if I am suited to the ministry that I volunteer in and liberates me to move into the area of my deepest passion.
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