A couple of weeks ago I attended the She Speaks conference, where God met me in new and personal ways. I was so moved by the large gathering of women surrounding me, all with hearts to pursue a life of God-sized dreams. As I unpacked my heart and reflected on all I had learned it became crystal clear that the Lord is asking me to step out in bigger ways to follow His God-sized dreams for me. With this message heavy on my heart I had to re-write and repost this message below for you, as it echoes my heart so well. I pray you will be encouraged and brave enough to step out beyond the safe zone.
Unwrapping Our Gifts
Don’t you love the anticipation of unopened gifts? We shake them, survey their size and shape, and wonder what could be inside those precious wrapped treasures. We all love looking at our parcels with a bow tied neatly on top and wait with expectancy at what we are about to receive. For some of us, we love to unveil our gifts by ripping them open fast and furious, while the rest of us like to savor the moment and take our time to delicately unfold our special packages.
What if we decided to never open our gifts?
What if we took our gifts and proudly displayed them on a shelf, just because we liked the wrapping? What if fear held us back from figuring out what was inside our gifts? I wonder what it would be like if we decided to hide the gifts we receive, and keep them as a secret, hoarding them for a while in fear of sharing them with others.
We all long to open our birthday and Christmas gifts, and willingly unwrap them. Just as we receive earthly birthday and Christmas gifts, so the Heavenly Father gives us daughters precious gifts to open and share with others.
Do you have gifts and talents that God has given you, but have waited and wondered about opening up? And what is holding you back from opening up your gifts and pursuing your dreams?
What are you waiting for?
I just had a friend say to me this week, “if you don’t pursue the passions, dreams or talents that God has birthed within you, it’s as if you are being given a gift that you decided to never open.” That hit me like a ton of bricks!
What is holding you back?
Possibly fear, insecurity and doubt? I can venture to say that most of us experience those three stumbling blocks and can be stifled from stepping out to do what God has planned for us. We sometimes have to exercise blind faith, open our God-given gifts and let the Lord use them for His glory.
Those three words–fear, insecurity, and doubt don’t come from God. He is a God of love–not fear, security–not insecurity, confidence–not doubt. What if we accept these attributes that come from Him? Let’s grasp those gifts of Love, Security, and Confidence, and in the process unwrap our own unique gifts–then in turn share them with others. When we say yes to God, then we say yes to dreams, to open doors, to new opportunities.
We must take a risk
Will you take a chance–a risk with me, and walk in blind faith to see what dream will unfold for you? I am walking into places that stretch me, move me, make me grow, because when we aren’t moving forward or growing, we are stagnant and staying in one place – and that’s the worst place to be!
Sometimes the one thing holding us back from pursuing a God-sized dream is us.
We can be the biggest hindrance to our success and future. Our pursuits, dreams and ambitions can only be fulfilled if we step out and see where God will lead us.
What do you say? Will you join me in pursuing your dreams? What kind of talents do you have that you are still waiting to unwrap?
Life In Bloom Link Up
For those who are joining in to link up today, feel free to link up any post that celebrates your life in bloom! This can be any post from the week on faith, parenting, marriage, recipes, homemaking tips, or something you feel will be a blessing to this Life In Bloom community.
- When linking up please copy and paste in the actual url of your post not just your blog url, so we can find your post later.
- As a courtesy, please link back here, or copy and paste the code for the button provided at the bottom of this blog page, and add it to the bottom of your post so others can find the Life In Bloom community.
- As a way to build up the sisterhood here, please visit a person or two ahead of you in the link up, then everyone feels a part of the community.
Let’s bloom together!
Related posts:
Joining you sweet friend, in opening the gift and taking the risk…I can’t wait for all He is going to do in and through each one of us. What a beautiful and encouraging community you have here! Thank you for your words
Thank you for sharing such an inspiring post! I am glad She Speaks was so good for you.
Thank you, Denise! It was very timely for me to read your thoughts this morning, as God has been encouraging me to step out and follow some of my passions more fully. Such encouraging words here … thank you.
Denise, this is a great post! A wonderful reminder of what we need to do. Just last night I shared my one thing in a post; two simple words – OWN IT! God’s been telling me I need to own my calling, my gifts and my identity! Then I come here and He repeats the message. Thanks for being a voice! Blessings, Jill
What a beautiful post! My husband likes to say, “Don’t die with the music still in you.” When we face Christ, we will suffer loss over every unwrapped gift. Thanks for the great post & for hosting the linkup, & God bless,
Laurie
Great Post! Thanks for writing it!
Fear of messing up or making a fool of myself is what often holds me back. But letting that fear win is not opening that gift. Love this, Denise.
Thank you for the link-up; I really enjoy participating!
Maybe it is unique to me but I have a difficult time trying to figure out what God has gifted me with. It could be because of what my life has been like or it could be anything, really. Perhaps since you have gathered intel and experience in this area you could do a blog post on that particular topic?
Thank you for the link up! This is my very first, so I am very excited about the whole thing. And “Ponder Woman,” you are not alone feeling this way. I often wonder about my gifts too. We all have them, no doubt about it; the trick is in figuring them out individually. It sure is a very challenging task only accomplished by the empowering and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and fueled by a seeking heart. Many blessings to all, thanks again and let’s get unpacking!
One more thing…where is the code for your button? I just couldn’t find it…again, this is my very first link up so I’m a bit at a loss : ) thanks again!
In Him
me again..sorry, I found the button!
Blessings!
Love this post and I so agree. I used to say the biggest barrier I had in life was myself! Let’s start unwrapping and sharing those gifts!
What an inspiring post! Thanks for sharing your heart with us.
I was at SheSpeaks too! I loved the session on finding your passion. My mind is still unpacking everything I learned!
I love the quote about the unopened gifts. Challenged me to make sure I’m using all God gave me.
Hi Denise
I read your Unwrapping gifts and God-sized dreams and to be honest i really do not have any talents, honestly right now I am getting my life together with God and attending college. I rely on God for everything. I am not perfect and still praying for an ex-boyfriend but other than that. I see no talents, so i have no gifts to unwrap.
God bless. You do have an Awesome blog site though.
Once again, God is speaking. I have visited several blogs over the past 2 or 3 days in the middle of trying to make a decision. This is ONE MORE post that I feel God is using to tell me “Take a risk!” Thank you!