Knowing and Applying My Top Three Spiritual Gifts After taking the Spiritual Gifts Test twice, my results were relatively the same both times. The first time, the top three were faith, mercy, and teaching. The second, time the top three were faith, mercy, and pastoring. I completely own faith and mercy. However, teaching and pastoring, especially pastoring, I am not sure how I feel about. Faith, oh yes, I have faith abundantly. I have faith that what was prophesied over me will be fulfilled. I have faith that my children will all be brought back into the flock. I have faith that the Lord will be right beside me during all of this schooling, of which He called me too. I have faith that when it is time to go to Columbia for ministry, He will open and close all of the right door. I have faith that when it is time, we will be able to sell our home and pay off all the student loans. The Lord told me that when it was time to go that He would supernaturally provide for me and I am standing on faith that it will be fulfilled. Faith is easy for me. It just comes naturally. …show more content…
I have such compassion for hurting people, whether it is physical, emotional, or spiritual, my heart is overwhelmed with a desire to help. God’s love for me is unconditional and to love others unconditionally is not always the easiest thing to do. However, all I have to do is remember I John 4:19, “We love because He has first loved us”. I do not sympathize for people, which means to “feel sorry for someone who is in a bad situation” (Merriam-Webster, 2015). I prefer to show empathy instead. Empathy is “the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions: the ability to share someone else’s feelings” (Merriam-Webster, 2015). I have been able to help several of God’s people through crisis, simply because the Lord helped me through similar situations. God is so good and mercy is
Drawing a distinction between being for someone and being with someone, Father Boyle writes: “Jesus was not a man for others. He was one with others. Jesus didn’t seek the rights of lepers. He touched the leper even before he got around to curing him. He didn’t champion the cause of the outcast. He was the outcast.” Such a distinction has significant implications for understanding ourselves in relation to others. While being for someone implies a separateness, a distinction between “them” and “us”, being with someone requires the recognition of a oneness with another, a unity that eradicates differences and binds people together. “’Be compassionate as God is compassionate’, means the dismantling of barriers that exclude,” writes Father Boyle. Accordingly, true compassion is not only recognizing the pain and suffering of others – it is not just advocating for those in need. It is being with others in their pain and suffering – and “bringing them in toward yourself.” Indeed, scripture scholars connect the word compassion to the “deepest part of the person,” showing that when Jesus was “moved with pity”, he was moved “from the entirety of his
The ideal action we would take as God’s people would be to help those in need, but like the Good Samaritan parable in the Bible, many would not help those in need. It is not always easy to see Christ in the people around us because we are human and we are not perfect. Dorothy explains this statement when she says, “It would be foolish to pretend that it is easy always to remember this” (Room for Christ 2). We need to make room in our hearts for Christ, and also the people that presented to us as Christ.
Shamanistic healing is a special practice mainly of the people in Asia. The commentary presented by Yer Moua Xiong is written from a first person perspective to aid in the process of immersing oneself in the culture, and understanding truly what shamanism is all about. One central belief of the Shamans is the ability for the human soul to drift and wander, or even become lost from its host (Xiong 2003: 183). The body can host many souls, of which all can wander or be lost forever from a physical limb or organ detachment from the body (lecture, 1/25). The soul is the essence of life, without which a body will become ill or even die (Xiong 2003: 183). Deceased relatives of a patient will try to contact the patient by making them sick (Xiong 2003: 184). Therefore, the goal of the Shaman is to find the cause of an illness, generally believed to be a missing soul, and heal the person. As stated in the commentary, “The first time that I perform a healing ceremony, I must…search for the cause of illness (Xiong 2003: 184).”
I grew up in a home with a family that attend church weekly and was active in the church family. I knew about God and about His son but I never remember the story of salvation and the personal need for a savoir. As a teenager I walked away from the religion that I thought did not offer my anything. In my thirties, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started my negotiations with God. Little did I know that He was not a negotiator but it was during this time in my life that I needed God more than He needed me. Since accepting the gift of God’s love, the salvation of a Savoir, and the renovation of my heart, I look to God for the path of my life. I share Gods truth through my career change to a Christian nob-profit that’s vision is to share God’s love to the community through the platform of pregnancy care and family services. Personally I have fulfilled God’s call to help the less fortunate by adopting a sibling group and participating and supporting mission trips to third world countries to support his children and missions there. My final piece of God’s plan I feel lead to complete is to volunteer my professional expertise and finances to work with a mission group that provides laboratory services to third world mission hospitals. I have done one trip for them and am currently planning a trip to Honduras in the new year. My day to
It could be as small as opening the door for someone who is not able to. It could be as huge as taking months of preparation and fundraising. We should all have compassion in our heart, understand another’s feelings or emotions. When I was shopping the other day, I saw a young lady helping an old man in a wheelchair to grab cereals from a shelf. She would gently describe all the boxes on the shelf. Then ask which one he would like. After the old man decided, the young lady grabbed the box and handed over to him. The old man took it over with his trembling hands, and he kept saying. "Thank you.” It was a heart-melting moment. She could have ignored the old man, but because of compassion. She lent a helping hand to him. We help elders to accomplish trivial things, such as opening the door and grabbing things they can’t reach. At the same time toddlers also treat other toddlers with compassion. When my four- year- old cousin’s friend wouldn’t stop crying because her dad was going on a business trip. My cousin tried to use a cookie to distract her attention, then she asked if she wants to play rock paper scissors. My cousin lost the game purposely just to make her friend feel happy. After a while, her friend stopped crying. My cousin’s heart was full of compassion towards her friend, she wants her friend to be happy. We should all have love and compassion for other
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
Perhaps the most famous passages on caring for those in need is in Jesus' parable in the sheep and the goats. He says, “Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me ...I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”[6] .Clearly, when we care for someone in need, we do the will of Christ.
“The call is something that is an indescribable joy and an indefinable burden at the same time.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 32). There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a congregation of the redeemed moving forward in their faith. However exciting this may be, it is usually not the thrill that propels the pastor in his service. It is the burden placed on the pastor by God that compels him in his work. The pastor understands that he is largely responsible for the work of God being accomplished by his faithfulness to his calling. “All through the Word of God and down through the annals of history, when God has moved it has almost always been attended by the preaching of the Word.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 31)
Worthington et. al. (2011) says historically, religiousness involved individual and institutional elements; however, now spirituality is thought of as an individual phenomenon and linked with meaningfulness, New Age beliefs, and personal transcendence. Additionally, spirituality is described in personal terms like one’s relationship with God, and as a result, spirituality is more highly regarded than religion. The authors define spirituality as a feeling of closeness and having a relationship or dedication to God or a higher power; this can be a religious experience or a nonreligious one. They state that what one considers sacred is usually related to the awareness of social influences. According to the authors, four types of spirituality have been identified based on closeness to God. First, is religious spirituality. Religious spirituality’s connectedness to God is based on one’s specific denomination and the closeness is specific to the deity identified. Second is humanistic spirituality. Humanistic spirituality involves closeness to humans. This type of spirituality fosters a loving connection with a specific group of people and a sense of selflessness and concern
... spirituality when they are at risk for developing spiritual distress, I may potentially save my clients life, decrease their emotional instability and help them develop their own abilities to cope.
Spiritual empathy is to be able to feel and understand what another person is feeling or trying to communicate. As social workers, we work with clients who are going through a life crisis. A life crisis would be anything that threatens the clients well being. Stress and anxiety can lead to health problems and damaging dysfunctional behaviors. To best serve our clients we have to show spiritual empathy. Spiritual methods of therapy are controversial among workers in the health field including social workers. Many are not comfortable using spiritual interventions. Being spiritually empathetic can help the social worker notice signs of spiritual need. I believe that spiritual empathy is crucial in order to help the client’s needs. In this paper I will go over the importance of spiritual empathy, recognize spiritual needs, and interventions.
I am compelled to help others in need. Mentally, I know it is not feasible to help everyone, but that does not stop me from trying. In addition, when my clients are in pain, I am also hurt because I have emotionally committed myself to each one of them. I must learn to establish borders to emotionally separate myself from my clients and their problems. I can be compassionate and empathize, but when my workday ends, it ends, and my personal life begins.
I’d like to state the most obvious observation that I’ve made about spiritual formation; that is that I will always need to be seeking for ways to nurture my personal spirituality throughout my life. I know that to most people this may sound like a “duh” statement, but for me it has truly become a reality and one that I must admit I have been struggling to embrace. I was brought up in a church that, like most traditional churches, stayed happy living in the “comfort zone” of their Christianity. They took everything that the Bible said at face value without digging in to find out why they believed what they believed. I had never been challenged to look deeper into the text. In the past few years I have felt the need to tunnel out of this cave of what I feel is best labeled “Christian ignorance”. In the process though, I have had to come to terms with letting go of the things that brought me comfort and provided me with what I thought it took to have a close relationship with God. Some of those things were tangible. Most were not. The things that were the least tangible actually ended up being the hardest to let go of.
Testerman, J. K. (1997, June). Spirituality vs religion: Implications for healthcare. Retrieved May 22, 2011, from http://www.aiias.edu/ict/vol_19.19cc_283-297.pdf
I am confident that the intelligence I have fostered will allow me to excel in my college studies, and contribute to my success as I eventually begin my career after college. I also have confidence that my life, in school and after will be used by the Lord to spread His light and gospel to the world. This is my ultimate goal in life, to follow and grow close to Him, and my growing confidence in defending my faith will greatly motivate me in my academic endeavors. Wanting to learn and wanting to grow as a child of God, striving for intelligence and character, are why I am pursuing college, and I believe my past experiences will be instrumental in achieving my future