Sometimes it’s easy to see the gifts and talents others possess. The women’s Bible study leader, worship team, those that start ministries, work with the aging and orphans. Their gifts seem apparent, obvious. Sometimes it feels blinding, blinding in a season filled with questions. Blinding in a place when the heart is searching, seeking God, wanting to do His will, fulfill His plan.<\/p>\n
It seems everyone else around is rising up, stepping into their gifts. First one foot, then the other placed into running shoes. And off! Just like that. The world is running while you feel alone, standing still.<\/p>\n
Have you ever stopped to watch an infant? They want to do things. Seeing a toy yet not being able to reach it. Seeing adults and other children walk about the room while they feel paralyzed.<\/p>\n
My daughter would get so frustrated. Frustrated that she couldn’t do things. She would cry when she could not turn over. When the toy was out of grasp to her sweet little fingers. When mommy left the room and she could not follow.<\/p>\n
The day she started walking was a happy day for her. She knew she was doing something great. She felt less alone and more satisfied.<\/p>\n
From infancy,\u00a0with each new task accomplished she grew, grew in endurance, contentment, and patience. One step at a time. Slow and steady until one day she was able to step into shoes and walk. Walking turned into speed walking which will eventually lead to running.<\/p>\n
Our life journeys, the race before us. There are not all the same. We are not all on the high school track field. Some are in the mountains. Others on the beach or in the jungle. God has a path for each of us. God has a time and place when we need to run and run hard. God also has seasons for us to walk, maybe even stop to smell the flowers along the way.<\/strong><\/p>\n Our life race, the journey is not one of comparison. Just like babies. They all grow and mature at different\u00a0rates. Some start walking at 9 months, others at 18 months. Neither is bad. Neither is better. Each is best for that child. Likewise, God has a best plan in store for you. Don’t start running too soon or don’t stand in fear when its time. God’s got you!<\/p>\n In the meantime, practice, grow in endurance, contentment, and patience. A runner never regrets warming up and stretching first.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Romans 5:2-5\u00a0Through Him we have also obtained access by faith\u00a0into this grace in which we stand, and we\u00a0rejoice\u00a0in hope of the glory of God.<\/span> Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/sup>and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us<\/em>. ESV<\/span><\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 12:4-6\u00a0There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.<\/span> There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.\u00a0<\/span><\/em>God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.<\/em> NLT<\/span><\/p>\n Romans 12:6-8\u00a0Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/sup>the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,\u00a0with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.<\/em> ESV<\/span><\/p>\n 2 Corinthians 10:12b …But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.<\/em> NKJV<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes it’s easy to see the gifts and talents others possess. The women’s Bible study leader, worship team, those that start ministries, work with the aging and orphans. Their gifts seem apparent, obvious. Sometimes it feels blinding, blinding in a season filled with questions. Blinding in a place when the heart is searching, seeking God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","sharing_disabled":false,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[16,14,8],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/shutterstock_428412907.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7NWg5-b0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":686,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682\/revisions\/686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godsgoggles.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}