Spiritual Gifts – Created to Create

Let’s talk about Spiritual Gifts!  Do you know what your’s are?  When I first became a member of the church I am currently at, they had me take a small, written, test so that I could see what my spiritual gifts were.  There are numerous websites where you can take the test as well (google it).

I soon found out that God was speaking to me in ways that couldn’t be shown to me though a paper test.  Yes, I am passionate about acts of service and yes, I am a teacher BUT God was showing me more.

Last year, around this time, I found Illustrated Faith.  I saw it on Pinterest, immediately ordered a journaling Bible, and dove right in.  I was on a Bible high.  Each day during Lent I decided to do at least one page in my journaling Bible, and ended up creating 2-5 each day.  I love to create, and I love The Word, and it just couldn’t be anymore perfect for me!

Creativity was not listed as a Spiritual Gift on that test.  But friends, God created me to create.  I am currently doing Shanna Noel’s Created to Create devotional (which, spoiler alert:  is AHHHHH-MAZING!).  I love how she makes this powerful connection between creating and it being a Spirtual Gift.  She says in one part, “While we are all artists, the way we are able to express our artistry delivers itself in different forms.”  I love this.  We are all artists of something.  Some are artists of music, some are artists of cooking, others are artists of speech.  These are all gifts that we can use to glorify God.

Before I began my journey with Illustrated Faith I was yearning for a way to witness that used my Spiritual Gifts.  I prayed about it, and I believe that is how I was shown this amazing movement.  Once I started Illustrating my Faith, and Creating in God’s name, I wondered, “can this somehow be used to witness?”  Well, I started an Instagram account, @ashinemachine , which focuses solely on my Bible Journaling pages, and within a month it had 4,500+ followers.  So can MY Bible journal act as a way for me to witness, can my creations glorify God and reach others, YES it can.  God created me to create.  He knows my strengths, and He put a lot of thought into them.

God is so good!

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