Printed registry in-hand, I wandered the housewares department at Target searching for the bride & groom’s favorite things.

I love weddings. Don’t you?

I love the idea of weddings. I love bridal lace and tulle ballgowns. I love vows and flowers and rings. I love all the things and of course, you can’t attend a wedding empty-handed, you need the perfect gift…

So I found the perfect gift, I joyfully purchased that gift, then I missed out on the joy of giving it.

Why?

Because that wedding never happened and that gift would never be used by the ones it was originally intended for.

God’s Gifts are Better than Target’s

When I think of the spiritual gifts God gives, I imagine this huge gift registry in Heaven. I know how much we girls love Target, but Target has nothing on Heaven’s gift registry.

Thankfully, we aren’t the ones making the selections, God selects and assigns our gifts. Phew, that just took like years of decision making off of our plates.

But what if we could choose our own gifts?

I’d definitely be in trouble because I’d want them all. Not so I could get the glory, but to glorify God by serving in so many ways. But God knows best.

God knows we’d go down the tubes pretty fast if we had every spiritual gift on the list. The overload would burn us out. Too many spiritual gift amps and our circuit breakers would fry us like a pork chop.

Of course, at times I serve and do as if I have them all. Yeah, that never works out well. It’s like Cinderella’s step-sisters trying to squeeze their tootsies into the glass slipper.

Another downside of choosing our own gifts would be the paralyzing fear of choosing the wrong ones–then we just wouldn’t choose any of them.

God’s plan is infinitely better and we receive the right gifts in the right measure. We just have to be sure we don’t forget them in a closet like that wedding gift I never returned.

A Different Kind of Marriage

We’ve heard the phrase a match made in Heaven, right? True story, when we seek God for direction, He guides us in our relationships, but I’m talking about a different kind of match–a different kind of marriage. I’m talking about marrying our gifts to our calling.

Our gifts pair perfectly with our calling. But just like building relationships takes time, using our gifts to their full potential takes time. We are being sanctified day by day, growing in our walk with Christ and growing into our spiritual gifts.

We can think of it this way:

We were born with all the equipment we need for our life. As we mature we don’t grow more stuff, the stuff we have grows and we grow into it and learn to use what we already have in the ways in which it was intended.

Our brains develop, our legs strengthen, our arms lengthen. We grow into what God has already given us. We are all unique and we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. We have differences and we have similarities, but whatever the case, God has equipped us with all we need to live out the life He created us to live.

When we are born again, spiritual gifts follow but we need to grow into them as well. Go easy on yourself if you feel you’re not using your gifts in perfect ways because growing into our gifts takes weeks, months, years even.

When we are called to use the gifts we’ve been given, God will equip us and guide us in the process. We don’t have to wing it alone, but we do need to marry our gifts with our calling. That means we may need to take a brave step into something new.

This is a Marriage that Needs to Happen

We need not jump ahead of God, we want to wait on Him, but we have to choose to use our gifts. Otherwise they’ll just sit on the shelf collecting dust like those crazy kitchen gadgets nobody buys because they don’t know what they’re for.

When we marry our gifts with our calling, we can trust abundant fruit will follow. Click To Tweet

We may not see the fruit right away, or ever–but it’s not about seeing results from our efforts, it’s about God taking our labor and blooming it in ways we could never achieve or even imagine on our own.

You can do this. We can do this. Because it is not by our might or power, but by the Spirit within us and those gifts He equips us to use.

Call to Action

Do something brave this week. Do something you’ve been thinking about doing for a long time but left it simmering on the back burner. Where is God calling you to step out of comfort and step into courage? Have you been thinking about starting a podcast? Writing a book? Volunteering at a pregnancy center or a nursing home? Inviting a neighbor for coffee? Stringing those cool outdoor lights and setting up a Neighbor’s Table in your yard to gather the neighborhood for a meal? How is God calling you to radiate the beauty of Jesus to the world? Maybe that next step seems more like a leap to you right now. That’s okay. Take a step. Start learning what you need to learn to do what you’re called to do. God will equip and provide ways for you to grow, stretch, and learn. Just ask Him and see what He will do, friend.

May I Pray for You?

Lord, I pray for my friend reading this prayer. I pray she finds strength in You as she takes her next right step. I pray she trusts in You so completely that your peace washes over her and Your joy in her overflows in her life and onto those around her. I pray her faith is strengthened as she calls on your name, because Your name is a strong tower she can run into and be safe. Lord, guide her in using the gifts you have given her and call her to rise up in courageous faith as she walks in her calling. Lord, bless my friend and show her Your glory. As Your Word says in Psalm 139:24, lead her in the way of everlasting, and that she may know that You came to give her life and life more abundantly. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Want to talk more about calling? Download a free copy of my mini-ebook, Step Out of Your Doubt and Into Your Calling.

Blessings of Peace, Joy, & Love in Jesus,

Doris