Follow Your Gifts

Greetings,
      It has been 64 days since I stepped down as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Las Animas, CO and applied for disability through the Presbyterian Board of Pensions. Since then I have been bombarded by all sorts of different emotions. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt have filled my mind and soul as I wonder what today's trip to the mailbox will bring. Would be an acceptance letter enabling me to keep my health insurance and be financially able to help support my family? Or would it be a denial letter stripping me of insurance and leaving me jobless? It is during these times when prayer and trust come into play and major questions come to the forefront of our minds. Do I really trust that God will take care of me no matter what the outcome? Am I listening for God's next calling on my life? What do I do next? I have struggled with all of these questions at one point in time during these 64 days and I have come to one conclusion: I must follow my gifts!
      God has gifted each one of us with miraculous gifts sent from the very throne of God. Each one of us have different gifts but all are given for the building up of the body of Christ. It only makes sense that if God has given me these gifts He must want me to use them! And if He wants me to use them then He will open doors in my life that enables that to happen. So, if I follow my gifts I find the door!
      I am reminded of Jesus in Luke 2:49 when He says, "Why is it that ye have sought me? Did you not know that I would be about my Father's business?" Living, looking, and following the gifts that God has given to us is what it means to be about our Father's business. Sure, I could spend the rest of my time waiting for my disability reply in a state of panic, uncertainty, and fear. Or, I could spend it following my gifts, searching the mind of God, and being about my Father's business. I am sure that you would agree that the latter is much more productive in the kingdom of God than the former.
      What about you? Are you following the gifts that God has given to you? Are you seeking that next calling He has for you? Are you praying and listening. seeking and knocking, following and finding, so that the will of God will be made manifest in your life. If not, why not?
      To apply for disability was my choice and I must live with the consequences of that choice be they good or bad. But what I do in the midst of those consequences is what determines my direction in life. The author Andy Stanley once wrote that, "Direction not intention determines destination". Simply put, it is what I do not what I want to do that determines where I am headed. Where do I want to be headed in the days, weeks, and months to come? What is it that I want to be doing? That's easy, I want to be about about my Father's business. So, I am going to follow my gifts because that is what will lead me to my open door!
     
     Until next time,

      Derek