All my life I have been blessed with a gift for numbers. In high school I took Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry and finally my father said "enough". I was glad because to be honest I never really liked working with numbers. But I tested well and on my SAT's I scored in the top 25% in the nation. I can remember looking at those numbers and thinking "so? i am never going to use that again!"
It took me years to realize how my gift for numbers would help in the pastorate. There were budgets and financial decisions to make. Then for the last 10 years I was responsible to raise 4 million dollars a year for the Mission. I also set up and administrated that budget. I oversaw all of the donations, processing and gifts for the agency. It taught me a lot about non profit leadership and gave me a deeper understanding of corporate financial structures.
Now here I am back in the pastorate and realizing anew how that gift for numbers is a help to the church. I not only chair our budget and finance committee locally but I also serve on the Conference Ministry Resource Team and help oversee the finances for the entire conference.
I have to say that I never could have anticipated how God would use a gifting for something that I did not particularly like, and use it in ways I never could have foreseen. I guess it is a good reminder that God can use all of me, if all of me is submitted to Him.
So tonight I have a renewed determination to give not just part of me, but all of me to God. The good, the bad, the big, the small and everything in between. Imagine what he can do, if I will just allow Him?
"There are different kind of Gifts but the same Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:4
Just Connie
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