God has a work for you

"God has given every one of us gifts to help us with the divine assignments that comprise our personal ministry.  Great joy awaits those who embrace those gifts to assist God in His work."

General Conference was once again wonderful, filled with spiritual power and enlightenment.  As always, it was difficult to select just one address for my focus here.  But eventually one seemed to call out a little bit more than the rest.

Part of the appeal of “I Have a Work for Thee” by Elder John C. Pingree Jr. of the Seventy is probably Elder Pingree’s focus on adopting a personal ministry, a topic I’ve addressed repeatedly.

Although Elder Pingree does not confine his remarks to singles, engaging a personal ministry can fill LDS singles with strength to face their challenges.  God has given every one of us gifts to help us with the divine assignments that comprise our personal ministry.  Great joy awaits those who embrace those gifts to assist God in His work.

Discover your gifts

It’s OK if you don’t know what your gifts are.  Discovering them is part of the process of embracing them.  Through the work discovery requires, you’ll become more endeared to your gifts and can more fully appreciate them.

I love Elder Pingree’s counsel to “approach decision points in our lives—like what to study, what to do for work, or where to live—in the context of helping others.”  Such an outward focus aligns well with the support network LDS singles groups should be.  More importantly, this approach follows the Savior’s example.

A priesthood holder giving a blessing never places his hands on his own head.  Rather he places his hands only on the heads of others.  That’s because the priesthood is all about serving others.  This is how the Savior fulfilled His personal ministry.  And it’s how we can fulfill ours as well.

Elder Pingree taught,

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So how do we come to know our gifts? We can reference our patriarchal blessing, ask those who know us best, and personally identify what we are naturally good at and enjoy. Most important, we can ask God (see James 1:5; D&C 112:10). He knows our gifts, since He gave them to us (see D&C 46:26).

Partnering with the Lord can help us discover our gifts and then develop them.

Leverage adversity

We’ve all heard adversity has positive benefits.  One such benefit is help in discovering our gifts.  Experiencing our adversity gives us knowledge obtainable only through that experience.  That knowledge gives us opportunity to help others who experience similar adversity in their lives.

Elder Pingree told the story of a human resources professional who was laid off.  This man started his own company aimed at helping others find employment.  In this way he used his experience to serve others.  And in the process, he found a more meaningful career for himself.

That story reflects my own in developing this forum.  A woman I asked out brushed me off without really getting to know me.  After almost 20 years of that treatment, I decided to start a blog on 12/12/12 that could help others.

What started as a simple release valve has grown into so much more.  Although the lack of comments to these blog posts suggests otherwise, hundreds of LDS singles have been helped to meet their challenges with faith in the Lord and hope for their future.  One such single whom I called Lydia expressed special appreciation for that help.

Many more LDS singles will be helped.  Next year, Joy in the Journey Radio goes live with a weekly Internet broadcast.  Between that and the social media outlets to come, I’m hoping to bless the lives of many more LDS singles throughout the world.  Can you see how using a focus on others amidst adversity has helped me to discover my gifts as well as pursue my personal ministry?

This is what happens when you partner with the Lord to pursue your own personal ministry.  He can show you your gifts and how to develop them.  And He can strengthen you as you use those gifts in advancing your own personal ministry, which is really just your individual threads in the great tapestry of His work.

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Avoid distractions

Satan will of course attempt to dissuade us from contributing to that mighty cause.  Sin may be his most frequently used tool, but other avenues at his disposal can be equally effective.  He can distract us with a preoccupation on worldly things or discourage us with feelings of inadequacy or perceptions that our work is too great for us to accomplish.

However, as we walk in faith by keeping our focus on following the Savior, we need not allow Satan to prevent us from fulfilling our personal ministry.  We can “be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness” (D&C 58:27).

And it need not end there.  I love the quote from President Russell M. Nelson that Elder Pingree shared in his address.

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“The Lord has more in mind for you than you have in mind for yourself! You have been reserved and preserved for this time and place. …

“The Lord needs you to change the world. As you accept and follow His will for you, you will find yourself accomplishing the impossible!”

When we partner with the Lord, we can do anything He requires.  Our personal ministries can further His work and bless the lives of countless others.  And that will bring more joy in our journey.

You can listen to the host of Joy In The Journey Radio read this blog post by using the player here.  Feel free to continue the conversation by leaving a comment. And be sure to catch the latest episode of Joy in the Journey Radio by going to the Recent Shows page!