Take Heart - You’re Being Re-Gifted

My sad, weary and disappointed friend said to me, “I’ve given up my Ministry. It’s not working. I quit.” His heart was breaking. He had worn the cloak for 30 years. He’d been called out at fourteen years old.

To preach was his calling. There had never been any doubt in his mind until that day. He thought he would always stand behind a pulpit. It was his vocation and his life. Now, he didn’t have a pulpit to stand behind. It was gone and he didn’t know what to do next.

I said to him, “I know exactly what you’re going through. I’ve either walked in your shoes or you’re running in mine. I taught the Bible for forty years, but I’m no longer teaching a Bible study or a Sunday school class. I still study as if I’m getting ready to teach the next class on Sunday.

I told him, “Ministry is in you. You can’t help but witness, you’re just going to do it differently. Let’s just say, you’re being re-gifted. You’ve been unwrapped and you’re getting a different wrapping and bow. The gift is still the same inside. Your gift is going to be given to some one else.”

We think it’s always going to be one way when life takes us a different way. If someone told me twenty years ago that I’d have a grandson who was skateboarding on the streets of L.A witnessing for Jesus, I would’ve probably said that’s not the way it’s done. But that’s exactly what he’s doing and that’s how it’s getting done. He’s not standing behind a pulpit, but he’s evangelizing and no one can deny the gift in him.

When I was being unwrapped a couple of years ago, I was also devastated. Because I was a woman I was asked to step down from teaching. Women aren’t to teach men you know. It’s the law. As I type this, I still want to cry. But, it brought me to grace and into a bigger place. I couldn’t see it then, but I see it today.

With a sad heart, a friend said to me when it happened, “Because you are a woman they’re putting a berka on you. When I look at you, it reminds me of Sarah Attar, the first Saudi woman athlete to compete in the Olympics. She ran in the 800m heat wearing a berka.  They’re doing the same to you.”

Another friend said to me back then, “You’re still teaching through your books and writings, you just don’t have a title or a position. You have a bigger audience. Rather than your Sunday school class of ten or your Bible study of seven, you’re being read all the time.”

I understood what my weary preacher friend was going through. It’s all about losing our identity among our church friends. When the position is gone, we don’t know where we belong. I remember getting a word from God, “Man can take the position and title away from you, but he can’t take your gift. The gift of teaching will always be inside of you.”

My prayer every day is, “Lord, make my life count for eternity. Touch earth through me today.” God has a specific plan for each one of us. We are all in the race and running it. Some of us thought we had to run it in a berka and come under the law. When we took it off, we lost our position and title, but gained greater understanding of grace.

Final Brushstroke! I said to my weary and disappointed friend, “I ran the race for years wearing a berka, but no more. Don’t distrust the sincerity and integrity of other Christians. They don’t understand the race you’ve been called to run. They’ve taken off your Nikes, but you still have to run the race. See those old, beat up, no-name shoes on your feet, they are tried and true. Let me take your hand, I’m running in your shoes and I’ll run the race with you. I’ve been re-gifted, too. We’ll make it to the finish line together.”