Are you unsure or frustrated about what your gifts, or purpose is?
Perhaps you may not want to embrace your gifts and purpose out of fear. Fear of rejection, not being good enough, smart enough or not knowing where to start? I've not only been there, but every now and then, one of these scenarios or emotions might jump in front of me, like a troll blocking my path.
I have heard many times that once you find your gift or purpose, you can either "make money from what you love" or "you'll never work a day in your life."
For a while, these statements left me feeling stressed and frustrated because I got the impression that it was easy to find your gifts and purpose, prompting me to ask God for discernment.
God, if it's so easy to find, "What am I doing wrong?"
For any discussions regarding gifts and purpose, the Parable of the Talents always comes to mind, and I did not want to be the servant who buried his talent (Matthew 25:15-30). In addition to this frustration, I've been guilty of harboring a number of limiting beliefs that I am sure made it harder for me to uncover my gifts and purpose.
Then, my A-ha! moment came when I read...
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going (Ecclesiastes 9:10)."
The more I use whatever I can do, I move from the servant in the Parable of the Talents who buried his one talent, to the servant who had two and increased his by two, and ultimately the servant who had five and increased his by five.
As of this writing, I can't completely articulate in words exactly my gifts and purpose. However, in the past six months, I've uncovered patterns and clues that has given me more clarity about what they could be. Below are four things I did that helped me get to this place of increased clarity, allowing me to get more engaged and live up to my fullest potential.
4 Surprisingly Simple Things to Do in Order to Uncover Your Gifts and Purpose:
1. Self-Discovery: You can only be good at being you. Don't look at what everybody else is doing because that's the surest way to ensure getting stuck. If you're stuck, quick read: 3 Amazingly Practical Ways to Get Unstuck Before the New Year. You will also need to identify (and write down) your values, goals and what skills you've learned along the way. Skills aren't always attached to gifts and purpose, but they can be good clues and patterns that point to our areas of expertise and things we've learned along the way.
2. Start a Promises and Compliments Journal. A few years ago, I learned about a compliment journal after reading, Write It Down, Make It Happen. In this journal you are writing down and tracking all compliments and nice things people say about you. This compliment bank comes in handy during times of self-doubt, and times when our inner critic is especially hard on us. "When you falter in your dream, consulting a compliment book reminds you of the character traits that others notice about you. You have more strengths than you might realize you do." I added the 'promises' part to include memory verses from the Bible of God's promises to me, to call upon.
"If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done (Ecclesiastes 11:4)."
3. Just Go and Do It: You have to start by taking one step at a time. Ben Linder says, "Anything you can do needs to be done, so pick up the tool of your choice and get started." I'm all for planning, but at some point, the plan has to be put in action in order to know if it works.
For years, I've been helping my friends edit their college papers; I've been on magazine committees and I've consistently written in my journal for over 14 years. I didn't start with the goal to be a blogger, but my experiences helped me to be a pretty decent writer before I started blogging. Blogging has in turned helped me pick up other valuable skills. Consider each endeavor as laying the foundation and building upon the skills and experience needed for the next set of experiences.
4. Revaluate: There's a time and place for everything and we must understand that things change. If something doesn't work anymore then it's okay to pause, assess, make adjustments and then continue. In the past couple months, I wanted to create another website, but it was cost prohibitive. I was frustrated and doubted whether it was something that I should proceed with. After a day of assessing the problem, I found another solution that didn't require me to spend any money and allowed me to learn another way to do the same thing.
It's not always easy to uncover your gifts and purpose. However, you can get engaged and uncover them! As you do with all your might whatever your hands find to do, you will be begin to get clarity on what your gifts and purpose is.
Kerry-Ann, Guest Blogger
Thank you Tiffany for the opportunity to connect with your community. Please connect with me on Twitter: @CarryonKerry or visit Carryonfriends.com.
I met Kerry-Ann at Blogging While Brown, lovely light, lovely person. Any questions or comments about uncovering your gifts and purpose? Comment below.
[Published via Original Website January 25, 2015. Edited, July 8, 2018]
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