My gifts

I was studying the gospel of Luke today, and came upon the tale of the talents. I'm forced to acknowledge that I'm wasting time, energy, and gifts for no reason whatsoever. So, I'd better start writing again.

Funnily enough, after bible study was over, I told the pastor, Dick, about my spiritual gifts. It emerged as part of a much longer conversation about problems in churches we knew about. In a previous church, my pastor realized I had the spiritual gift of exhortation. It's a gift that allows me to uplift and encourage others, and also speak God's word forcefully to them. I unnerved Pastor C. anyway, so he almost threw a (completely useless) book about charismatic gifts at me and left me to it. He may have walked off, but I knew that he really wanted to run away screaming after dealing with the lunatic congregant he usually avoided. After that, I kept the knowledge to myself. But today, telling that story to Dick, I realized how long I went without speaking of it to anyone.

Then I told him about the gift no one in the previous church knew about. Intercession. Intercession means you're an intermediary that uses prayer to change the situation. You pray more often, for longer periods of time, and more forcefully than many, and you often feel called by God to pray for something in particular. An example is " I feel God wants me to pray for Alice today." Sometimes you know why and sometimes you don't. Spiritually, it can take you in a different direction and you may get a reputation for being strange. But my husband told me to not inform Pastor C., so I didn't. If you've ever had something dumped in your lap unexpectedly, you know how I felt. What is this, where did it come from, and why me, anyway? Spiritually a toddler when it involved prayer, I knew I had to learn from God what to do. Pastor C. would cheerfully enter me in marathons, given the chance.

The folks in my next church accepted this easily. One woman looked at me judiciously, and stated " I can see that." When I asked her why, she said " I've heard you pray." Respect is most beautiful when you don't expect any.