I want to follow up my last blog with a few of the things the Lord has revealed to me since those first days of ministry in Romania.
First, I want to say thank you to everyone who commented on my blog, sent me messages of encouragement and called out gifts they see playing out in my life. Wow, I felt so loved and encouraged! I’m so grateful to each of you.
So, after that attack, I am realizing even more, that this will be a daily battle for me. I have to wake up every day and consciously put on the armor of God as I go to battle against the enemy and the forces of the spiritual world.
Since those first days, the Lord has been revealing giftings in me that I walk in. One of those being the gift of empathy. I have somehow always had this ability to see perspectives, to step into other cultures and, even if I don’t agree, I seek to understand where they come from. I can see the view points of many and now with my new and growing understanding of empathy, and simply knowing that I walk in it, I am working toward trying to bring unity between others within that gift.
The Lord has also revealed to me that I have a gift of stewardship. As I made my way through college, my grandpa would help us financially – under one condition – we had to make a detailed, estimated budget before the semester and a final at the end. I quickly grew to love this time with him. The sweet friendship we had because of it also made it even more enjoyable for me. I would always come within cents of my estimated budget by the end of the semester and the thankfulness, pride and joy he exuded would make it so fun.
I stepped into my position as treasurer a little over a month ago and my team has frequently given me feedback to encourage me in the gift of stewardship they see I possess. I love stewarding money for my squad. I love serving my squad in this way and I honestly don’t think I could ask for a more enjoyable way for me to love them well. To top this one off, during my fundraising process, I had the time of my life! Seeing Gods faithfulness so evident in my life and the provision he showed me made me want it to never end—and I’ll have you know, not many people feel this way. I had no idea of that until a few months into the race.
A VERY recent one that I am still pressing into is the gift of evangelism. Before our days of evangelism on the race, I always get a little nervous but it’s always an excited feeling. I love sharing my love for Jesus and who he is to me and I boldly speak up and do it. This is a gift that has been taking me off guard and is a little difficult to grasp but it’s a process and I’m excited to learn more.
These are just a few gifts that the Lord has recently been highlighting to me through my teammates, squadmates, revelation and prayer. I’m stoked to continue pressing into these and serving the Lord to the best of my ability while using the gifts he’s given me.
