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    Building Your Strengths: Who Am I in God's Eyes? (And What Am I Supposed to Do about it?)
    Building Your Strengths: Who Am I in God's Eyes? (And What Am I Supposed to Do about it?)
    Building Your Strengths: Who Am I in God's Eyes? (And What Am I Supposed to Do about it?)
    Ebook129 pages1 hour

    Building Your Strengths: Who Am I in God's Eyes? (And What Am I Supposed to Do about it?)

    By Women of Faith and Patsy Clairmont

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    About this ebook

    God has given each of us unique talents, skills, and abilities. He has given each of us important strengths that He wants us to use for His glory. But for some reason, we often have trouble embracing that truth! We tend to underestimate our strengths and buy into the lie that our talents aren’t good enough or that our skills are not needed.

    In Building Your Strengths, you will examine what God says about your unique gifts and how He has given you those abilities to shine for Him. You will take an honest look at your past and consider those events—and even those trials—that have made you a stronger person. You will also see how you can build on the strengths God has given you to better minister to others and grow in your faith in the process!

    The Women of Faith® Bible Studies provide intriguing insights into topics that are relevant to women’s lives today. Each guide includes twelve weeks of study, down-to-earth illustrations, and reflections to help you move the truth from your head to your heart. A leader’s guide for use with small groups is also included.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThomas Nelson
    Release dateOct 4, 2016
    ISBN9780310682707
    Building Your Strengths: Who Am I in God's Eyes? (And What Am I Supposed to Do about it?)

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    • 5/5
      This study guide asks the reader personal questions about life issues, then uses answers from the Bible to guide the reader to a clearer understanding of the types of gifts God gives and what can be done with these gifts. Designed to be used in a study group session, there is an answer key in the back for the teacher. I have always used these guides alone for personal training and found them most helpful.

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    Building Your Strengths - Women of Faith

    images/img-5-1.jpg FOREWORD images/img-5-2.jpg

    If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.

    —Corrie Ten Boom

    Girls, let me just say it right up front—yes, you do have gifts! And yes, you are stronger than you think!

    Whew! That feels better.

    For some reason we gals have trouble embracing these truths. Many (most) of us underestimate our value and our strength and we buy into the cheap lie that we were on holiday when the gifts and grit were handed out. Hardly.

    Take me for instance . . . every year I have to turn to my friends to be reminded that I am a competent speaker. No kidding. I have been speaking for over thirty years and I still get the knee-knocking jitters. You’d think by my age I’d be more confident. But these are the thoughts that bounce through my brain: What if my message isn’t well received? What if I forget what I was going to say? What if I’m just too old and blather on? These doubts become battering rams against my best intentions.

    The thing that helps me survive my own insecurities is understanding my God-given gifts and strengths, rehearsing God’s faithfulness, and receiving my friends’ affirmation. As an ex-agoraphobic, I know what it’s like to feel three ribbons short of a gift. I was certain I had been overlooked. I didn’t realize my gab was a gift. Because it’s a funny thing about gifts—we usually don’t consider ours as unique or as stunning as someone else’s gift, because whatever ours is, it comes so easily to us that we don’t get the big deal about it.

    My timid friend Carol is a wonderful artist, but for years we couldn’t convince her of it. Art naturally flowed through everything she did (decorating her house, cooking a meal, loving her family, painting life on a canvas), so she didn’t get the gift part for a long time. Then one day she signed up for an art class at a large art supply store and after the first class they hired her to train their instructors. Not their students mind you, but their instructors. She was dumbfounded. We, her friends, gloated. And you know what happened when she began owning and living her gift? Not only did she grow as an artist, but she grew stronger internally.

    Somehow gifts and strength work that way. It’s as if one blesses the other. There’s just something about finding out where we fit into the rhythms of the universe that is deeply satisfying and that infuses us with confidence in the way God has created us. Gifts and strength add to our life purpose.

    Just as surely as God pressed the stars in the heavens to be His light-holders, He has positioned us with gifts to shine for Him. So don’t be shy—step up and acknowledge the generosity of God toward you by functioning in your strengths. And don’t let your fragile self-esteem (we all own one) keep you from the healing joy of your divinely-inspired place—as God’s gift holder. Shine, my friend, shine!

    Remember: Yes, you do have gifts! And yes, you are stronger than you think!

    From one who knows,

    —Patsy Clairmont

    images/img-5-1.jpg INTRODUCTION images/img-5-2.jpg

    There’s something profoundly beautiful in the timeworn face, cotton-soft hands, and deep, searching eyes of an elderly woman. Each wrinkle stands as a monument to one of life’s joys or tragedies. Each age spot is testimony to another year of experience and grace. When you look into the richness of her eyes, you see the events of years, both devastating and delightful, that have shaped the woman she is. In her you see wisdom, patience, and strength.

    But strength is not reserved for the elderly, is it? Margaret Thatcher, as one of the United Kingdom’s most prolific Prime Ministers, had to maintain a firm stance to ensure the safety and status of her country in the world during the Cold War. Angelina Jolie is not only the essence of physical strength, with toned arms and a daring spirit, but she has shown that it is possible to balance both motherhood and a successful career while also crusading to make a difference in the world. And you probably know countless others who have looked tragedy in the eye and refused to succumb to the alluring darkness of self-pity and despair, but instead have risen up and celebrated life and hope in one way or another.

    As Frederich Nietzsche said, What does not destroy me, makes me stronger. Becoming a woman of deep strength is not an easy thing. It can be a journey fraught with difficulty and frustration, if not deep sadness and heartache. But the satisfaction and contentment that comes from knowing that you have access to the unending wells of divine strength are truly a gift from God.

    So step back, take a deep breath, and look closely at your life. What has made you stronger? How have those things given you strength? If you can identify these movements in your spirit and see the ways that they make you strong, you can more effectively use your strengths to be a woman whose life ultimately glorifies Jesus Christ.

    My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

    —Psalm 73:26

    He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

    Isaiah 40:29 NIV

    images/img-11-1.jpg

    CHAPTER ONE

    INTELLECTUAL STRENGTH

    JESUS SAID TO HIM, YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.

    Matthew 22:37

    images/img-5-1.jpg C LEARING THE C OBWEBS

    images/img-5-2.jpg

    We wouldn’t let piles of junk line the halls of our homes, so why should we allow negative thoughts and old resentments to gather in the recesses of our minds?

    We have each been given a precious gift, more valuable than jewelry from Tiffany & Co. or a luxury vacation to the French Riviera. That gift is our minds. Our ability to reason sets us apart from the rest of creation. Because of our intellect we are able to choose favorite songs, create art, organize messy closets, calculate which box of diapers gives us the best value, and carry on

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