Days of Sunshine and Happiness

Has this last week not been absolutely grand? It's been sunny every day without being unbearably hot... at least in Deming! We've been treated to soft breezes every day and gorgeous sunsets. We've been living outside practically! Breakfast in the morning on the back deck, watching the sprinkler water our little garden... (and there are things growing, slowly but surely!) lunchtime finds us on the front porch where the sun hits our legs and feet but the roof line shades our faces. dinner time often puts us on the front porch again because the kitchen/dining room/deck gets pretty hot that time of day!

Bruce has been alternating his days... working here at home and away. He's doing a small remodel job on an older home down in Acme and some of the work involves new trim and painting that new trim. it's easier to paint trim before you install it so we've been working on that project together. it's been fun, both the teamwork and just having him at home.

we did a spiritual gifts test, that pastor Kim recommended we take. we've done tests like these before but it is helpful and fun to do them again.. and take different types-- where they ask different questions. my gifts don't change much but sometimes, because of circumstances and experiences, one gift often comes to the forefront a little more.
this time for me the gift was compassion or mercy. this surprised me! my top gift in past years has been Service or helps, which is pretty much me. this time that was my #2 gift but it was only one number higher than my #3 gift which was discernment or perception. so i did the 'tie-breaker' question to see which one of those 2 would come out stronger and the discernment did!
interesting!!

the reason compassion surprised me is because i often think of myself as the 'just say no' person -at least in this household lol. you see Bruce's highest score is compassion as well. and I am the one who reigns him in--or tries to --when wounded people show up at our door-- or in our lives. now, i think the gift of discernment is the checks and balance in mercy. I have a good sense when a person is not being sincere in their quest for help. so maybe i am saying no at the right times. and, by the same token, Bruce keeps me from being too harsh.

Bruce's next 2 gifts are leadership or administration (often the gifts are labeled under similar titles) and giving. yup, that pretty much sums up my hunny!

we have had some great discussions about our gifts, the scores, and the questions that led us there. for instance, i shared with Bruce how I answered one question and he was surprised because he would have answered it much differently if he was asked it about me. VsVersa on a couple of those. so we've gained some more valuable insights into one another. i like that!

taking this spiritual gifting test is just one of the steps Pastor Kim asked us to do as part of this exploration into where God is maybe calling us. We are going to meet with him soon to talk about the scores and how he sees it. He has a very strong gift of discernment so it will be interesting to see what he has to say!

meanwhile, Bruce is being obedient in the Lord's calling to do certain things... he is 'preaching' this Sunday for the Presbyterian service in Deming while Pastor Tom is one vacation. While he has certainly done this for Tom before, for some reason-- at least to me-- this feels different. But I don't expect I'll hear Bruce say that! (after all, I have a much higher score in discernment than he does lol)

www.discoveryourgifts.com is the site for checking out this particular test. I think everyone deserves to take this test and find out for yourself, if you don't already know, what your spiritual gifts are --so you can use them to fulfill the purpose for which God put you on earth.