Which Body Part Are You?

Recently, my husband and I had the opportunity to share our family's adoption story at a fundraising dinner for an adoption support organization run through a local church.  While the main goal of the night was to raise money to help families who wish to adopt, we wanted to stress the importance of other ways to support those same families.

We spoke about the support network we had when we went through the arduous process of adoption and how important it was, especially during those first couple of years after bringing the girls home.  Those years are a blur in my memory, when all we could do was focus on survival and the difficult process of attachment.  People brought us meals, watched the kids for an hour or two so my husband and I could run out for a break, and patiently listened to us talk for hours about our struggles. I was struggling with post-adoption depression and all I could was try to make it through each day. Our friends and family sacrificed their gifts and resources to support us and love up on us. Without everyone there, I don't know how we would have made it out of the fog.   

We stressed that not all are called to adopt, but we can all be a part of adoption.  Adoption truly takes a village, and when all the parts of the village work together, the process goes much more smoothly.

We all are given different spiritual gifts, and God calls us to different types of service.  We all have the same big goal of encouraging one another and glorifying God, but we do it in a variety of ways. 

Some roles are in the spotlight and some are behind the scenes, but all are important. 

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.  - 1 Peter 4:10

For example, some of us will be called to be missionaries in a foreign country.  Those of us who are not may be called to use gifts of financial giving to support the missionaries, gifts of intercession to pray for the missionaries, gifts of administration to help with paperwork, or gifts of mercy to uplift the missionaries when they are struggling.  Every role is important in helping the missionaries be effective where they are placed.  

In Monday's devotional, I encouraged you to find out your spiritual gifts.  Today, I encourage you to pray about how God will use you for the advancement of His Kingdom.  Don't think you are less of a Christian if God doesn't call you to Africa.  If we were all called to be missionaries in foreign countries, then there wouldn't be givers, exhorters, or helpers.  How ineffective we would be! 

We need to learn to be OKAY with where God has placed us and not waste time and energy wishing gifts upon ourselves that He has given others.
 
When we are in the roles God called for us, we are glorifying Him most with our time, energy, and focus. 

Joyfully,
Ginny

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