Don’t you just love it when God, the Lord of the universe, Creator and Sustainer of all things, speaks to you and you actually hear Him? I’m pretty sure that He’s always speaking to us, but I know that I often miss hearing Him for any number of reasons. Sometimes I’m just not listening, or I’m focused on other things, or I’m distracted, or worse, I don’t really want to hear what He has to say.

Lately I’ve been asking God to show me how He wants to use me in this season of my life, and I can’t say that He has given me a clear answer, but He has been directing my attention to the concepts of giving and gifts. The following are some examples that have jumped out at me recently:

Proverbs 11:24, 25 – It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything. The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.

1Peter 4:10 – God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you.

Then while reading “When Helping Hurts” (Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert), I came across a story one of the authors told about going into an impoverished community and asking people about their skills and abilities (i.e., gifts). As the story unfolded about how the people in the community eagerly shared the things they were good at doing I felt myself choking up. I felt like God was speaking directly to my heart, showing me how He has indeed given each of us gifts and abilities that can be used to build each other up and also to help us live out the purpose we were created for: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. For the past few months at the Zanokhanyo Job Readiness graduations we’ve been asking the graduates to share their talents as part of the graduation ceremony. Some sing, others share poems they’ve written, some showcase their cooking skills, and at our last graduation a graduate did a make-up demonstration. Every time we have these “talent shows” the graduates just beam. So often the people that come on the job readiness courses are grappling with a sense of hopelessness and very poor self-esteem. They come as a last resort, feeling that the whole world and even God have forgotten them. On the course they learn that God loves them and has a purpose for them, and that they all have worthwhile things to contribute to their communities. What a joy it is to see people come alive as they grasp the Good News and begin living it out.

As for me, I think God is asking me to unearth the gifts He’s given me and use them generously to glorify Him and help others. Sounds easy, right? What about you? What is God asking you to do?

On a completely different note, a while back I shared a story about friends who needed a visa extension so they could stay in South Africa a few months longer to take care of a boy they were hosting for the year. Well, they FINALLY got the extensions, but in the meanwhile the boy has moved back home because he was really struggling to cope in the new school and he was miserable being away from his large family. Sometimes our best efforts to help actually end up being harmful. Most issues are far more complex than they seem on the surface. In the end, I don’t think any lasting damage occurred in this situation, and I’m sure some good came out of it. God is always able to bring beauty from ashes!