Women of Warren Vlog – Gifting

Well, good morning and happy Monday morning. I hope that you're having a good start to your week and that, you know, if you're a family that celebrates Mother's Day, I hope that you had a wonderful day yesterday. Well, something that I have not shared on here, a lot of you know, my husband and I are actually expecting our first child at the end of June, and so that's coming up quick, and so it was an exciting day for me just to think about, you know, motherhood is just right around the corner, and so it's a very exciting thing, but I also know that that day can be a day of difficulty for many people. It could be either you're single, I was there for many, many years waiting and wondering if I would ever be married and have children, or, you know, it can also be a day of remembrance of loss. It could be a day, um, a reminder of just some difficult things, or it could simply be a day where maybe your children are not near to you and you're missing them. And so please know that, um, while we, uh, are excited for mothers, we also sympathize with those who that day is difficult. And, um, also that motherhood is such a blessing and that it doesn't have to be just what we think of as traditional motherhood of a you know a child born biologically into a family there can be adoption there can be foster care and there can also be I was beginning to think so many different kinds of mothers and I was thinking about women who mothered me without you know truly being my what we call earthly mom and so one person who came to mine in particular was Lady Mary Lou, who was essentially like a mother to me through college. And she led our small group, our Bible study group, a group of us girls, but was truly, she's one of those people that you looked in her eyes and you just knew she knew Jesus because she had eyes that were so soul deep because she knew the Lord. And so you may be in that place. You might be a mother who is maybe not related biologically, but you are a mother who has essentially adopted a family who maybe lives a long ways from their family or maybe you mentor in a sense some other young women and in a sense you've kind of taken on a role of mothership a spiritual mothership and so those are great things but it got me thinking because there's so many different uh ways of motherhood in a sense it got me thinking about a passage of scripture and about our gifting okay because each of us in the Lord have been gifted and blessed with different spiritual gifts and so we're going to kind of dive into that and first I want us to think about this we're going to think about this the gifting it's from the Lord and there's some temptations whenever we think about our gifting that we'll have to that we have to lay down as we think about our gifting and so I want us to look at first Peter chapter 4 verses 8 through 11 and so I'm just going to read the read this and it says above all keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins show hospitality to one another without grumbling as each has received a gift use it to serve one another as God's stewards as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And so this just gets us thinking, okay, there's different kinds of, um, maybe, maybe you're like me. Maybe there've been times where you're in a group of women and you just think, my goodness, that lady is so gifted. Like she just walked straight up to that stranger and just acted like she just knew him from day one. I have a friend who's like that. Every room she goes into, she is just the light of the room and can make anyone feel so comfortable. And I just love that about her. And so she's so gifted in that way. So blessed and so blessed and gifted in that way. Or you have a friend who maybe is a prayer warrior, someone who intercedes in prayer. There's also those who are incredibly organized. If you've ever walked past the women's ministry office, you know that there's a lot of stuff that goes on because we also have the special needs ministry kind of connected in here. And Jennifer, who works alongside me and she does our special needs ministry together at Warren Ministry, she is so organized. And I'm just so amazed by that, you know, labels on everything. And that's so not my gifting but that you know organizes everything for everything to run smoothly and she's so good at it also such a wonderful person that's just one of her giftings or there's those who can read and interpret scripture there are those who are so servant-hearted they'll give all of themselves to something there are those who are merciful you know what you know those people who can no matter what any situation can look at somebody and they see Christ in them and I think that is such an amazing gifting but we have to remember that with those giftings that it is not us seeking praise for ourselves it is living in those gifts and giftings in order to glorify god so i want you to take some time today i want you to sit and think about how has god gifted you and sometimes it's the very things that come naturally to us that we don't even really think our gifts that much maybe it's um maybe it's somebody who's really a great hostess your hospitality you make people feel comfortable and welcome in your home i can name off probably five ladies in my head right now who just do that and out of the gifting of their heart and they want to create this space that's comfortable for people to come to talk about jesus and all that and to them they think it's nothing but it is a big deal but it's not that they're seeking praise for themselves. They're doing it to glorify the Lord. And that's where we want to focus today. So I want you to think about where are your giftings? What do you think that you are gifted with? And if you don't know, maybe ask the Lord to reveal that to you. You know, Lord, how am I gifted? How am I walking in that calling, in that gifting that you've given me? Am I using this gifting to reach others for you, Lord? Or is it that I feel as though I'm really generous and I do it so others will look at me? Because that's the double-edged sword, right? We can be merciful and we do that so others will look at us. Or, you know, I'm not saying you do that immediately, but you can get to this area where pride steps in and you're starting to do it to glorify yourself. I'm preaching to myself here, rather than glorifying God alone. And so in Jackie Hill Perry's book, Upon Waking, she had a phrase about gifting that I thought was so good. I just wanted to share it with you. She says, when everyone functions in the grace they've received, the grace or the gifting, when everyone functions in the grace they've received, the body, the metaphor for the church, can walk on water is that not awesome so when we think about it when we think about the gifting you know the one who teaches the one who's a leader the one who's um shows great hospitality the merciful when we all come together we become this functioning body the church that can walk on water that works that is so separate from the world that works opposite of the way the world tells us to seek self seek praise for yourself you do you you know all of that my truth all these dumb things but really when we are seeking and using the gifting of the Lord for his glory we are taking what God has so blessed us with and using it to glorify him and not ourselves and so I want you to think about that today I want you to pray through what your giftings are and ask God to reveal where can you use these even more? You know, Lord, you've already blessed me with this gift. Thank you for it. How can I bless others and glorify you essentially to point always back to you, Lord, um, to give you the glory for what you have given me. And so I just want you to think about that. And one of my favorite phrases, the Latin phrase is solely Deo Gloria, because it's all unto the glory of God. And so I want you to think about that today, no matter what you have going on it's a Monday it's busy but think about how today can you live for the glory of God how can you use your gifting to glorify the Lord so I hope that encourages you today remember that you are gifted and to live in a live in a way that is glorifying to God through that gifting so thank you and I hope you have a great great week

Originally published at warren.church.