Humpback whales travel
3000 miles each year to have their babies in the warm waters by Hawaii.
Loggerhead turtles get born in Japan and travel 8000 miles to Baja to feed and
mature. Scientists don’t know exactly how they find their way but they think it
has something to do with the magnetic pull of the earth.
God is like that magnet. He
knows where our best feeding grounds are, where we’ll mature and the best
locations for us to birth and nurture our babies. I consider our babies not
only our physical children, but the work we produce for our Lord and for
mankind.
I think everyone has a
desire to give something. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten son.” We are made in the image of God and have His giving
nature in us. Sometimes it’s just not that easy to find the best venue for
developing that giving nature.
It would be easier if we
were just like the whales or the turtles and instinctively knew, and we all went
to the same place to find out what our gifts were. But it’s not that way. We
are all so different and have to walk our own journey. The thing is we never
know exactly where that journey will take us. Like the magnet that pulls the
whales and turtles, we are pulled toward those special gifts God’s given us.
Most of the time, though,
we don’t fall into them instantaneously. We don’t know what our greatest gifts
to other people are until we first find out what they are not. We have to try
things out.
Yes, it’s hard sometimes
and even embarrassing, but Jesus is our backup. He loves us no matter what. He
never leaves us and He helps us. Everybody makes mistakes but everybody has
great successes too.
I remember one time when I
was in a Christian training program and we went out door to door witnessing. We
walked up to the door and it was my turn to talk. I
was terrified! I was supposed to introduce myself and tell them I was from the
Way Biblical Research Group. We knocked on the door and a young woman opened it
to us. After an uncomfortable pause, I blurted out, “Hello, my name is Carolyn
Molica. I’m from the Bay Wiblical...oh crap!” I turned all shades of red and
shrunk away. I was totally embarrassed.
I tried it a
few more times and never was any good at it. I just wasn’t cut out to be an evangelist in that way. I didn’t find
out till many years later that one of my greatest gifts to people is my
writing.
I always thought that a
preacher had to have a church too, but found out, after just jumping in and
doing it, that my church is basically the internet people I know. So don’t
expect that your way of giving is necessarily going to be in the “normal” ways
you’ve thought of in the past. We have to be open to the new and unusual at
times.
First Corinthians 15:57
tells us, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as
conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Even when we try something
and it doesn’t turn out, at least we’re finding out what doesn’t work and that’s
a great milestone in itself.
Being aware of where we’re at is a great victory
too, a great starting place for the next adventure. At every turn there is a
lesson to be learned if we are only willing to look.
The whales and turtles may be guided by the earth’s
magnetic pull, but we are being guided too.
We are told to pray. We thank Him for being “a
lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
Love, Carolyn
I’m working on Volume 2 of WINGS: A Journey in
Faith. Check out Volume 1. You’ll be inspired.
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