Would you agree that we ought to use the gifts and talents that God has given us to help others and serve God? The bible teaches us to be responsible with the gifts that God gives us. We should multipy, improve, and build up on, and take care of what we have received. When we do take care and use them we receive more responsibility and when we don't we receive nothing more. I want more than anything, to hear "job well done my good and faithful servant" from my Savior, when my time comes to leave this earth.
Last week, I was away from the job and on vacation. While I was gone a man that I just spoke to in passing in the hall way had died. He wasn't too old or even looked unhealthy. He was always smiling and spoke when I saw him. When I returned to work, someone told me that he had died. I had a few thoughts after hearing that he had died. One, was that it was unfortunate that such a pleasant person died and I didn't really get to know him and two, I thought...how long will I be here? No one knows the answer to this question. I could guess and I could hope, but I don't know.
I do try to use all the gifts that I have been blessed with, but with this in mind I need to try harder. So, my question today is what is it that you are here to do? Is it time for you to take inventory of your gifts and how you are to add value to this world? If you are not sure, then I would suggest asking God first. Then ask a few people around you that you trust and know that they will give you honest feedback. Most likely, you know and are doing what you are here to do. Most importantly, you have the talents and personality that you need already to do it. We all have the choice to do what God put us here to do, to do what we want to do, or to do what others want us to do.
"Commit to the Lord in whatever you do and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)
This is an awesome scripture!
Why not commit to the Lord all that you do? Can you think of anyone better to handle your life, business, financial situation, love life, or family? I can’t. Being the controlling person that I used to be, I found this to be a difficult transition of thought. It was difficult for me to let it go. Pray about it, have faith that God was going to handle it, and just keep moving.
What I have learned to do is find a scripture relating to my situation and pray on it and let it go. Here is an example of what I do now. I say this prayer, Lord thank you for all that you have given me today, yesterday, and things to come in the future. Please forgive my sins and all of my shortcomings. Lord, according to your word when I commit to You in whatever I do, my plans will succeed. Today Lord, I commit my plan to succeed in my business to you. I will work toward the goal knowing that it has been blessed. Thank you in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen. After saying that prayer, I go to work doing what I know I need to do to be successful. Without work and faith, prayer is useless.
I have seen this practice work in several areas of my life – home, work, business, and family. I know that God’s word is true and it works. The key is to believe and to work. Try it! What do you have to loose? God started showing me this reality on the smallest scale and then building my faith to believe in larger things coming to pass. When doubt creeps in, I am able to think back on how He brought me through the other things and then I feel comfort in knowing that it will be okay. It may not happen as fast as I like sometimes, but it comes. And I found that when it takes a long time to come, it is because I am not ready for that particular blessing yet.
“Don’t be misled; remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it; a man will always reap just the kind of crop that he sows” – Galatians 6:7
What kind of seeds are you planting today?
Seeds of:
Love
Happiness
Abundance
Doubt
Fear
Complaint
Rage
A great way to judge the type of seeds that you are planting is to listen to your children. What are they saying, what are they doing, how do they view life, and do they feel comfortable coming to you for everyday and difficult questions?
Those little ones are images of their parents and their environments. They are sponges and believe what you tell them to be true about the world and what to expect. For example, a child that has been raised to think positively (expect the best and there are no limits) will operate as such. I was raised with the reminder “not to get my hopes up”, when it came to striving for things that my parents hadn’t attained. I have gravitated away from that thinking, but that was how I was raised. My son, however, is being raised with the knowledge that all things are possible with God. He sees no limits and I get so very tickled watching him and listening to him. He has been an entrepreneur at heart since he was 5 years old. From selling lemonade, home made cheese sticks, garage sales, his personal art work, washing cars, and now his lawn care business (he is 12 years old now). He tracks his spending with his business, advertises, has business cards, and schedules appointments.
My son spends a lot of time with my mother and will come to me when she has attempted to tell him not to get his hopes up in not too direct terms. In a hurry, I put him back on the right track. Daily our children are met with negative experiences and at the end of their school day it is very important for us to encourage them, find out what happened during their day, and put them back on the right track of thinking. In order to find out how their day was, you have to do a little fishing. Go beyond the question, “how was your day”? These children will one day be responsible for our fate as older adults.
Now, you may be thinking about your children right now. They may be grown or still young. I have an older daughter that is 21 years old. I raised her since she was 5 years old and when she was 14 she moved to live with her mother. I was 23 when she was 5 and living with me and my husband. What a challenging time and experience certainly makes a difference. So, I would suggest that everyone have at least two children so you can be encouraged with the second one. I believe that what she learned while she lived with us was valuable information and all she needed to know to become a healthy adult. I would have loved her to stay (for the rest of her life); however I know that God had another plan for all of us. More significantly, we all learned after she left that we (my husband and I) provided her with the best life, resources, and love that she needed to manage life away from us.
God also speaks to us through our children, I believe. I know God has with me. For example, this web site was confirmed by my son (as a matter of fact he made this web site for me). I have wanted to do this for a few years, but have never found the time to figure out how to do it. I have often shared my thoughts, but not to the level that I have been lead to share. My son, in one day, developed his web site to market his lawn care and garage sale business, and then volunteered to make this one for me. So, here we are and I am excited to see what develops from this site.
Tina’s Opinion:
I know that God’s Word is true! I believe that the Word is our guide through life and that for every question that you may have regarding your life you will find the answer in God’s Word (The Bible). I have found useful information regarding how to be a better mother, wife, daughter, and business woman. Sometimes, I fall short of being who God intended me to be, but I continue to strive for that goal. I have also found that it gets easier each time I get up and start over again.