Everyday there is something new to learn in life!!! It seems that is life – people grow, grass grows, weeds grow, animals grow, technology, science and know how grows and on and on and on and more and more as time goes on.
Experience is a good teacher for helping us learn, provided we evaluate it.. Each day is jammed packed with experiences from which we gain understanding and knowledge. Some experiences are shared by others and some are unique only to us personally. Some people may attend schools to learn or gain knowledge while others may learn through evaluated experience.
Sometimes people can have the attitude that the experiences they have had in life that were bad as a result of personal sin was something that needed to always keep hidden away in a closet of secret. However, I have learned a lot from my experiences in life and God has often moved my heart to share these experiences at times in order to warn, encourage, help or strengthen others. It is important though to listen to the Lord in terms of proper timing for sharing because there could be times where sharing could have the opposite effect. Sharing too much with your children could be one example. Your sharing could detour a child from sin, but it could also justify sin in their mind as they may think “Well, if mom or dad did it, he or she would understand if I did it!” YIKES!!! This could be especially true if you shared your sin with a smile or a light-hearted attitude that implies that it was cool or fun at the time. Our Father tells us to hate sin, therefore to explain the down side of it is good if you are led to share it!!!
Jesus, in Luke 22:31, told Peter (Simon) that Satan wanted to sift him as wheat, but that He was praying for him that his faith would not fail. This was right before Peter was to publicly deny Christ three times out of fear of persecution. Jesus then told Peter (Simon) “after you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” In other words He was saying, “after you have gone through your experience, use it to strengthen others.”
Our own experiences can definitely be a resource to us to grow our faith and to help us minister to other people as they encounter experiences that we have already gone through ourselves. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”
I have found experiences greatly confirm to me the truth of what God tells us in His word as truth and experiences make the lasting impressions upon my heart that stick with me and surface when I see other people struggling with the things that I have already been through. With these experiences, I can understand or relate better to people and can warn, help or encourage others with proven validity because I have gone through it. The same can be true for you!!! God can certainly burden our hearts to minister to people by sharing our personal experiences with them. Some people dedicate their whole lives to sharing from their past experience in order to make a difference for Christ.
As it relates to our seeking to understand our areas of giftedness, experience at trying different things is very valuable as a teacher of what we are good at. When we think back over times in our past and observe the different activities that we have really enjoyed and activities in which we feel we have done well, it reveals to us our “sweet spot.” Our “sweet spot” or giftedness is so natural and so instinctive that when we are using it, it happens very easily and you can find yourself carrying it out without much thought!!!
Going through the small group study exercise entitled “Cure for the Common Life” provided by Max Lucado with People Management International helps to identify our area of giftedness that is sweet to us. In this book, Max explains a “sweet spot,” as being the place on a golf club (or baseball bat or tennis racket) where you get the most power and control out of your swing. People have sweet spots, too. It’s about using our God-given strengths to achieve an outcome we are divinely motivated to pursue. Giftedness is not about satisfaction – it’s about motivation stirred up by the Holy Spirit at work in us as this song says here.
Satisfaction is an end result of doing what we are motivated and able to do. I encourage you to work through the process in the workbook and/or ask Jesus to help you to discover your “sweet spot.” When you find it, you will want to run there. What is your area of giftedness that when working there, it is sweet to your soul??? Oh it is my heart that you will enjoy the divine adventures of life with Jesus right where it is meant for you to be and doing what you are divinely gifted to do!!! It’s the divine best life for you!!! Me, too!!!
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