Recognize Your Signature Gift - Look inside and know yourself
Updated: Oct 16, 2021
How to Find Your Signature Vision (2)
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well - Psalm 139:14
In the last post, Start with the End in Mind, Why should you need a vision, it tells you how important to have a vision in life so you know the direction in your life journey; otherwise, you can easily get lost and wanders in desert and reach nowhere.
Today, let's discuss step 2, Recognize Your Signature Gift by looking inside and knowing yourself, the four series of Find Your Signature Vision. This is a self exploring process that most people usually ignore. Because people are easily distracted by the noise from the world, caught up in the busyness of life and lost in the crowd; people can easily follow others blindly and have no time to look in the mirror and understand themselves deeper and recognize their unique design and their deepest longings.
Life always has its own unrevealed mysteries, no matter how wise or knowledgeable we become. There are mysteries that are never fully exposed to us in our lifetime. The mystery evokes our curiosity to explore the unknown and drives us to solve life’s puzzles. When we are kids, we usually have a stronger sense of curiosity because we have less knowledge. That is the primary reason we long to grow up. When we lose our curiosity, we lose this driving force and thus the desire to grow. Being curiosity to our unique design helps us to find the wonders in us that God made. Just like psalmist, King David in the bible, said, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”(Psalm139:14)
Two weeks ago, our bible study group organized an autumn outing to Duke Farm and we enjoyed the nature's beauty. There I saw the most beautiful and colorful orchids in my life. I deeply appreciate God’s exquisite creation. From the beauty of the flowers, I realized the richness of God’s unlimited intelligence and His amazing love. Looking at the flowers and being wowed by orchids' elegant beauty, God whispered me gently and firmly, “Do you know that your design is much more elegant and richer than these flowers? ”
Wow, God told me that He has put more effort in creating me than the orchids.
God created man in his image and put his spirit in humans only.
God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
Have you wondered how uniquely and lovely you were created by God? If flowers can shine their glories on the world, we humans should shine much brighter than these flowers.
God’s work is wonderful! Knowing this is so imperative and significant. It builds in you a strong and positive self-image. The Maker does not make anything that is wrong or useless. It is He who chooses your parents to conceive you and decides your race, shape, and nationality according to His predefined purpose. Your life’s journey is to fulfill His purpose and shine for Him.
Once a mother was shopping with her daughter. Her daughter found a dress that looked so beautiful. She went to a fitting room and tried it on. After her daughter put the dress on, it did not look good. Meanwhile, another girl was trying on the same dress, and she looked marvelous. The daughter then became unhappy. With anger she said to her mom, “Let’s go!” After they left, the mom asked, “Why are you suddenly upset?” “That girl made me look bad,” the daughter replied. “The girl did not make you look bad; you made yourself look bad. You want her life instead of your own. The dress does not fit you well. It does not mean that other dresses do not fit you well. It does not mean that you are not beautiful,” the mother explained.
God planted our lives with a specific purpose in mind, so we are all beautiful in His eyes and in a unique way. We have to learn to see our life from His perspective instead of comparing ourselves with others; otherwise, we will miss the point and live a life lacking purpose and hope by forsaking our life in exchange for a superficial fit. Then our vision is blurred in the dust and our hope drifts away in the wind. We feel confused; we live a life that is hopeless and meaningless. If your life is ordained greatness from God, no matter how impossible or weird it may seem from the world’s perspective, your life can still spark from its own unique splendor.
To understand your unique design and gift, you need constantly to look inside and know yourself. Regularly set up some quiet time, first reflect on things happened in your life or happening around then ask why they happened, what you can learn from your past? Specifically, what is the unique message you can draw from your journey, either failures or success?
Nothing can happen without a reason, nothing can happen without God’s permission. If you do not get the message, you waste your life. God usually put his unique message or calling in your life stories on your journey. In your stories, you can find God’s stories. God created you in His likeness; He also put His stories in your stories. God is the director of your life drama. No matter you realize it or not.
Nick Vujicic, born without limbs, experienced a lot of adversity growing up. He was bullied at school and at one point lost his self-esteem and desire to live. He questioned what the point of living and he wanted to commit suicide at age eight but failed. A pivoting moment for him came when he reflected on his struggles, what happened and happening around his life. He remembered his mother showed him another baby was also struggling with a severe disability. A holy call came through and woke him up from his despair; he realized God wanted him be a role model to children with disabilities, lift up others, use his life to kindle the fire of hope in others. He decided to motivate them to progress in life despite their circumstances. Since then, his attitude changed and he became grateful and he embraced his originality with boldness and gained a brand-new perspective on his condition. Ever since that day, joy like the mild sunshine on a spring day gently and warmly trickled into the moments of his life. His life started to be full of laughter. Later he became a famous motivational speaker. Nick’s life inspired and motivated millions of people with all kinds of struggles and from all walks of life, including myself.
Second, at your quiet time, listen to your deepest inner voice, what are your deepest longings? What makes you excited? What makes you forget time? What makes you feel fulfilled and have a peace of mind? What makes you easily bored or frustrated? What makes you keep watching time and expect to end as soon as possible? Write all this down. In the quiet time, you are able to connect to the well of life spring, God. God speaks to your heart. You can feel deeply and listen clearly.
When I am in my quiet time, I usually feel fully satisfied and sense heavenly peace. Usually after a busy and hard day, I found my deepest desire is to find a quiet place, or enjoy the nature or reflect, read or write. I love reading, especially the books for self-development so I have many this kind of books in my book library. Not only do I love reading, but also I love writing. When I read or be in a quiet time, some great and fresh ideas come to me naturally and I cannot help write them down on papers so I have notes called instant ideas on my phone. When I read or write, I forget time without feeling bored or tired. I also found I can easily get tired or feel loneliness when I am in a party or a crowded environment with many people. I am not good at shopping at all that makes me easily tired or frustrated but my daughter is totally different.
In quietness, your subconscious mind starts to speak and that is your inner voice and it tells your nature from God. When you follow your true nature, you feel satisfied and have peace; you refresh yourself with flowing energy and you find your deepest longings and your unique gifts; you feel life’s meaning and purpose. You are free of chaos and stress. Once you know your unique gifts, you gain inner confidence. You live life with deep insight about whom you are and what you are suppose to do. You do not follow others anymore; neither do you compete with others. The confidence in you not only makes you live a fulfilled life but also you can help others live a fulfilled life. You see the abundance in you and others so you engage with world with a mindset of richness instead of scarcity. You interact with people with a win-win attitude instead of competing for a win over lose.
Now it's time for you to develop a habit to find some quiet time regularly, look inside, reflect your life and recognize your unique gifts that God has endowed you with; take responsibility to use your talent and offer them back to the giver just like that these orchids release their inner beauty and shine in the world. This is the wisest investment we could possibly make on this earthly walk. One day when we face our creator in His own time, we will be proud of what we have done with our lives and joyfully receive His blessings and praise, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things” (Matthew 25:23)
In the next post, I will write step 3, Respond to the Divine Call, the four series of how to find your vision.
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May you grow to your fullest!
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