Every single person on this earth was given a talent from God. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what our gifts are. For some they are clear as day; for others we have to try a little harder to open our hearts and minds to what gift God has blessed us with. When I think of spiritual gifts, I think of people who were blessed with a beautiful voice so they can praise His name; or I think of those who were called to preach or teach His word. However, that is not always the case. Some people are blessed with a sparkling personality. Others are blessed with good communication skills or wisdom. These are all obvious in how they can be used to honor God. But what if your gift is not something that would normally be associated with worship?

That is exactly where I stand. I use to think I did not have a spiritual gift. I always wished I could sing, but I was always too nervous to try. I have always struggled with standing in front of a large group of people and speaking. I have given my testimony and I felt wonderful afterward but the anxiety leading up to that day was something that told me that talking to large groups of people was also not my spiritual gift. So I am now twenty- four years old and I think I have finally found a piece of my spiritual gift. I say I have only found a piece because I believe we grow everyday and I pray my spiritual gift does nothing but grow!

I have always loved art. I loved crafts and being creative as a child. I took art lessons as a child but after that I kind of just forgot about it. A couple of years ago I started painting again. I did a few projects and posted them on Facebook in an attempt to sell them. No one seemed interested and I was busy with college life and I did not have much free time to paint. Several times I had posted things online or taken projects to certain places to sell but I never had any success.

In August, I graduated from college without any idea of what I was going to do to make money. All I knew was that I needed to move back home and begin saving money for graduate school and my soon approaching future. A few weeks before I graduated a young lady from my church had asked me to paint her a door hanger and another small project. I had a lot going on with graduation and I told her I would get to it as soon as possible. Little did I know what those projects would start.

The week after graduation I finished the young lady’s order and as always, I posted it to my Facebook album thinking this time would be no different from the other failed attempts to advertise. I had also painted some things for a friend’s wedding and I posted all of these around the same time. This time was different. I don’t even recall how and when but the orders started coming all of a sudden. People were messaging me for my art! How does that happen?!

Words can not describe how thrilled I am to be receiving orders almost every week for some kind of art project. I am so overwhelmed. God has provided me a fun and enjoyable way to build a small income while I search for a job in my career field. So what does this have to do with spiritual gifts? Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do spiritual gifts, but for me it does.

As I mentioned before I have always been interested in art. However, making money off of my art was never my goal. I can’t really say what my goal was; I just enjoy being creative. A couple of months ago I began using my art abilities to create journal entries in my bible. If you aren’t familiar with bible journaling, it is a fun, different and unique way to express what message you receive from God’s word. I am able to use creative expression to captivate people’s imagination and inspire faith. I love getting creative with God’s word and sharing my entries with others in order to convey God’s message. As my journaling has developed over this past year I am beginning to treat art as my spiritual gift.

God has blessed me with a creative eye and a steady hand. I have always painted and in turn that became journaling and now God has provided through my art. Now it is my turn to give back to Him. I share my journal entries in hopes that at least one person who does not know Jesus will get curious because of the journaling. He has given me outlets to share my art and I believe I can use that to bring others to Him. As for my other projects; I will give the glory to God and honor Him through my art.

After reading about my spiritual gift I hope that if you feel you have yet to find your spiritual gift, you will begin looking for it in new places.

^“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11