How to discover what your gift is

It's very difficult to live a life of purpose unless we know what our gifts are. The purpose of this life is partly the same for all human-beings; to love God and love people. On the other hand, how we choose to serve God and serve other people will depend on what areas we are gifted in. God does not desire a person with very low empathy to be the one running the care ministry in the church for example. A person with low empathy won't be able to feel enough compassion for those who need help through the care ministry.


We are all gifted in very different ways but no gift is worth more than another in God's eyes. All different types of gifts were given to us by God for one purpose; to serve Him and serve other people. We aren't meant to use our gifts towards selfish ambition, but rather to help other people in this world. There is somebody out there in the world right now who is praying to God for help in an area where you are able to help. Don't waste your gift, put it to use!


When I was in the process of figuring out my purpose a couple of years ago I found it helpful to read books about purpose. One of the more obvious things we need to figure out what our gifts are is a list of all the things we are good at. I find it helpful to write them all down. Another tip that I learned from reading books about purpose was to ask yourself the question: "What makes me righteously angry?" There are many different types of injustice in our world but we will know what we are meant to change when it makes us really angry. I always get really upset when I see children who are suffering at the hands of their parents or because of our broken society. Kids in poverty and kids who have been abused is one of my people groups that I want to spend my life serving. I also get very upset when I see any type of modern day slavery in our society; human trafficking, the lack of fair trade etc. Helping children get a better life and fighting modern day slavery are two of my greatest passions.


Another way we can know what God wants us to do with our lives is by taking a Spiritual Gifts Test. We all have certain gifts that we are born with (natural gifts) and then we also have spiritual gifts. Our spiritual gifts are given to us by the Holy Spirit and the more we are filled with the spirit the more evident they become in our lives. Some examples of different spiritual gifts are: mercy, pastoring, teaching, wisdom, giving, healing, hospitality, leadership, miracles, evangelism, administration and service. Once I found out what my spiritual gifts are it became easier to see how I can help others by using both my natural gifts and spiritual gifts.


One of my top spiritual gifts is mercy. The gift of Mercy is "the divine strength or ability to feel empathy and to care for those who are hurting in any way." The gift of mercy is very helpful when I work with serving children in poverty for example. God will equip each one of us for entirely different jobs in this life but each person has been given a set of both natural gifts and spiritual gifts that God is expecting us to put to use.