moments of vulnerability...

every once in a while i will post things on here that are more personal than random thoughts. you see, it's almost necessary for me to do so. i am traveling alone. more than 18 months, so i have few, if any, people to share my thoughts with. and sometimes it just helps to voice them. to share them. it's therapeutic. so here is the first installment.

i've always wished that i were more like other people. you know those people who are super athletes, or are really really really ridiculously good looking, or creative to an extreme, or amazingly intelligent. in my heart i've always wished i could trade them places. well, this morning i was thinking about that as i looked out over waikiki beach and worked on my paper for the conference. but this morning was different. i wondered why some people were gifted in the ways they are. why does God bless people with beauty or intelligence if they are not going to use it for His sake? but in my head it had a complaining, grumbling tone. immediately the Lord spoke very clearly to me that i had been gifted with a far greater gift--that of faith. we are told that it is by grace that we are saved. and that is true. we are gifted with the grace to believe what is foolishness to the world. with these words my spirit was immediately lifted. wow! i had been grumbling about receiving the greatest and most costly gift of all. and when i think about it, all the others are irrelevant.