TERRI: I think the biggest question we all have is: What on
earth am I here for? What does God want me to do with my life?
In fact, I heard someone say, "If you think you're too small
to make an impact, try going to sleep with a mosquito." In other
words, you're not too small, your gifts aren't too
insignificant. God wants to do something with your life.
(Music)
TERRI: Hi, I'm Terri Savelle Foy and you're watching
Live Your Dreams. I pray that as you invest in yourself today,
you're captivated and you're catapulted to live your dreams.
You know, I was listening to this story one time about a man
who traveled to over 100 different cities and he said he
kept a journal where he would just walk up to people ask them
one question. They said, "What is your number one fear?" He
said he thought he would hear things like a fear of dying, a
fear of public humiliation, a fear of cancer. He said the
number one fear that he seemed to identify all over the world
was people feared that their lives would be meaningless and
they would live and die with their potential untapped. That
was the number one fear. Well, today I want to talk to you
about discovering your unique gifts and talents and what in
the world God has put you on this earth to do. In fact, I
heard someone say one time, "The worst thing in heaven would be
when God gives you a glimpse of all that you could have had, all
that you could have done, all that you could have been, but
for some reason, you never developed the gifts and the
talents that were on the inside of you." In fact, I heard John
Bevere say this years ago. He said, "When judgment days comes,
and it's going to come, when every one of us stand before God
and we give an account for our lives," he said, "when that day
comes, you're not going to be held accountable for what you
did on earth." I was confused by that. Then he said this. "You're
going to be held accountable for what you were called to do on
earth." What you did and what you were called to do could be
two totally different things. You know, God may say, "I've
called you to sell houses. Why didn't you sell houses? I called
you to start a church. Why didn't you start the church?"
You're saying, "Well, nobody wanted to hear me preach. I
didn't know where to go." "Well, why didn't you start in your
living room? I called you to start a church," or, "I called
you to write a book. Why didn't you write it?" "Well, the
publisher turned me down." "Well, why didn't you
self-publish it?" God's going to hold us accountable for what
he's called us to do for what he's put on the inside of us.
Well, years ago, I was coming out of such a hard time in my
life. I had started this discipline of making myself
listen to at least one faith-building message every
day. On my way to work, I would put it in the car and just
listen on my way to work. Well, one day I heard this message and
at the very end, this minister said something and he said it
two times and then the CD would end. It was over. The phrase he
said would just go over and over in my heart, in my head, and I
would just play it over and over. This is what he said,
"Somebody in need is waiting on the other side of your
obedience." Twice he'd say that. "Somebody in need is waiting on
the other side of your obedience." I would just be
driving thinking, "Could somebody seriously be waiting on
me to get with it, to get my act together, to get through this
hard time? Who in the world could be waiting on me?" Well,
today, you know when we get testimonies from people,
teenagers who say, "I stopped cutting myself. I got out of an
abusive situation because of watching your messages," I think
somebody in need was waiting on the other side. Well, my
question for you is: Who could be waiting on you? Who's waiting
on the other side of your obedience? They're waiting for
you to develop those gifts and talents that are on the inside
of you. I want to talk to you about discovering and developing
your unique gift. If you're anything like me, I'm not one of
those that my talents are just so obvious. I've had to dig a
little deeper to find my gifts. There's some people out there,
they can sing, play seven instruments, they can draw,
dance, paint, walk on their toes. Did you know that God has
not only given you a gift, but he is fully counting on you
discovering it and developing it? Once you do, he actually
says in the Word of God, in Proverbs, that once you develop
those gifts that are on the inside of you, number one, your
gift will go before you and bring you before great men,
number two, your gifts will prosper you. That's what God
said in his Word. You know, I was reading this story about a
young black man who reportedly applied to go to music school
and he said he was brought in for an audition. What they did
was they asked him to sing certain scales. Well, he said he
could only sing the first two notes properly so they told him,
"You don't have what it takes to be a musician." The story said
that he cried and cried because they rejected him from the music
program. Well, he told his friends afterwards. He said, "I
know there's music in me and they can't keep it out." He knew
singing was his gift. Well, he eventually went on to become one
of the most successful and beloved jazz musicians of all
time. In fact, he sold more records and actually made more
money than scores of others who were more talented than him. Of
course he's gone down in the history of music as one of the
best. That was Louis Armstrong. Think about what he said, "Music
is in me." He knew that that gift was on the inside of him
and nobody could talk him out of it. Well, what is your gift?
What are those gifts that are already on the inside of you
that God just wants you to stir it up and then it's going to
bring you before great men and even prosper you? Well, I want
you to notice that your job is to stir it up. You might say,
"It's too late. I don't even know what my gifts are. I don't
know how to discover my gifts and I doubt it's going to bring
me before great men." Well, I heard this statement that I
opened the broadcast with. Somebody once said, "If you
think you're too small to have an impact, try going to sleep
with a mosquito." I've actually done that in Africa. It leaves a
mark. My point is you do have certain gifts and talents that
God wants you to use. Here's the thing. You may not even see them
as gifts. In fact, gifts are things that come so natural to
us that we just seem to think, "Oh, anybody can do that."
That's what you have to realize. Not just anybody can do what you
do the way you do it. In fact, I met a lady who loves to
organize. In fact, she looks at clutter and she sees vision. She
said, "I love to organize refrigerators, closets, desks,
kitchen pantries, shoes, anything." She said it brings
her great joy to create organization out of disorder.
Well, that's her gift. Do you know that she has actually
turned that gift into a full-time career and makes
really good money at it? I met another lady who, she has a
special interest in decorating Christmas trees. You may not
even think of that as a full-time job or even as a gift,
but she's become very successful doing what she loves to do. All
her friends would ask her, "Would you do my tree? Would you
set my tree up? Do you mind packing my ornaments away?" She
said, "I finally realized this is a gift God's given me." This
is what she told me, "I only work four months out of the
year." She said, "I work October, November, December, and
January packing all of them up." She said, "It provides for me
the whole year." Well, she has discovered a gift that God has
given her and it's prospering her. I met another lady, a
friend of ours, who she loves to sew. In fact, that is a
God-given gift that the Lord's given her. She said she makes
costumes, of course, but her gift has made room for her and
brought her before great men. In fact, she has made costumes for
some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood and entertainment
and she's gotten many of them born again. She would sew little
scriptures in their costumes or she's given some faith-building
books and said, "I want you to read this book. When you come
back, I'm going to ask you what you read and then I'll give you
your costume." Well, she's using that gift of sewing to prosper
her, to bring her before great men. I want you to think about
what do you like to do. It could be solving math problems,
singing, creating music, building things, painting. It
could be designing things, coaching, maybe anything
involving sports you just seem to gravitate towards it. It
could be dance. It could be administrative work. Maybe you
enjoy baking or you just have a natural gift for teaching or
training people. Maybe you like to decorate or you love working
with children or elderly people. You know, those are gifts that
God has given you and maybe you just never recognized it as a
gift. See, here's the thing. What you're able to do, God
wants you to do. There's something in your life that you
accel at, whether you've identified it or not. You are
above average at something. It's your gift. Here's one of the
things I want you to realize. Successful people, they stop
focusing on their weaknesses and they maximize their strengths.
Let me just give you an example. Let's just say for example that
on a scale of one to ten, that I'm a level three at playing
basketball. Maybe that's exaggerating. Let's say I'm more
like a 1.25 and I practice really hard and let's just even
imagine I trim my fingernails or maybe not. Let's just say I hire
someone to teach me, work with me, two to three hours a day, at
developing the gift of playing basketball.
With all that hard work, that dedication, that focus, I
could probably move up to a level three, but here's the
point. The world doesn't care to watch a level three or a four
perform. In fact, nobody's going to pay money to go out and watch
a level three dribble the ball. On the other hand, let's just
say that maybe as a communicator, as a public
speaker, maybe it was more of a natural gift that God gave me
and I didn't think it was a gift, but even without
practicing, what if I'm a level five or even a six and then I
tap into that gift? I discover, "Wait, I have a gift to
communicate." Then through prayer and preparation, what if
I move up to a level eight or a nine, and then one day I get up
to a level ten? Here's the thing, people will come out and
watch a nine or a ten do what they do best. Do you know people
will pay money to watch a level ten play their instrument?
People will pay money to have a level ten come decorate their
home. People pay money to have a level ten manage their office,
file their taxes, cut their hair, organize their closets,
ghostwrite their books. See, people will pay money to have
you do what you do the best. They'll pay money to have the
best realtor sell their home. You've got to discover what is
some of those natural gifts that God's given me that maybe I just
never thought it was a gift because it comes so natural. I
want to help you identify the gift, locate it, discover it,
and then develop that gift. You may be crying out for wisdom, a
plan, direction, change, and God is saying to you today, "It's
time to just stir up the gift that's on the inside of you." In
other words, discover it and develop it. In fact 1
Corinthians 7:7 says this. "Each man has his own gift from God."
It says, "One has this gift. Another has that." In other
words, every single one of us have a gift. God didn't just
give some a gift and not you. He's given you a gift, but you
are the one who has to stir it up and develop it. When we come
back, actually I'm going to ask you two questions that can help
you locate your gift, because like I said, my gifts aren't
just screaming at me, but I had to actually discover them by
asking myself these two questions, and I
believe it's going to help you discover the gifts that
are on the inside of you. I'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Your talents and abilities are a gift
from God, and discovering and developing those gifts
can dramatically change your life. That's why
Terri is offering you her three-part teaching called Your
Gift Today. In this motivational series, you'll be inspired as
you discover how to unlock, develop, and increase your
gifts, how your personality compliments your purpose, how
your capabilities support your calling and much more. It's
never too early or too late to know what God wants to do with
your life. Plus, for a limited time, when you request your
gift, we'll also send you the Story of Your Life bonus CD. You
didn't have a choice on how your story started, but you have
everything to do with how it progresses, so
don't delay. Call toll-free (800)795-5597 or visit us
online at Terri.com to request your copy of
Your Gift along with the Story of Your Life.
TERRI: So we're talking about how to discover your unique
gifts and talents and, basically, what on Earth are you
here for. In fact, I heard somebody say one time, "The two
greatest things in a person's life, number one, the day you
were born. Number two, the day you discover why." Do you know
that God said in his Word that once you stir up the gift that's
on the inside of you, keep in mind it's already on the inside
of you, he said in Proverbs, "Your gift will make room for
you and bring you before great men." He also said, "Your gift
will prosper you." Your gift is supposed to bring financial
increase in your life. In other words, if God's put a gift in
you for baking, then bake. If he's put a gift in you to sell,
then sell. Whatever it is, what you naturally seem to gravitate
towards, those are your gifts. Those are just indicators of
what you're called to do. I love this, that Rick Warren said. He
said, "The abilities you have are a strong indication of what
God wants you to do with your life." He said, "They are clues
to knowing God's will for you." He said, "If you're good at
designing or recruiting or drawing or organizing, it's a
safe assumption that God's plan for your life includes that
skill somehow." He said, "God doesn't waste abilities. He
matches our calling and our capabilities." In other words,
there is a connection between your potential, your passion,
and your purpose. Think about that. There's a connection
between your potential, your passion, and your purpose. I've
had to actually go on a search to find my gifts and my talents.
It wasn't like I had talents just screaming and everybody
would recognize them. If you're like me, you may need to go on
that search, too, where you're going, "I don't even know what
I'm good at," or maybe you have an idea, but you've not
developed that gift. I actually listed five questions that will
help you identify your gifts and talents and I want to go over a
couple of them right now, just to get you on that search.
Number one is what were your interests as a child. Do you
know that thinking back on what you most enjoyed when you were
younger can actually help you identify some of the
inclinations that you seem to gravitate towards? What did you
do for fun? What were your favorite toys? Where did you
spend most of your time? What were your favorite hobbies? When
you really go back to your childhood, just revisit your
childhood and start thinking, "What were some of my favorite
things to do?" My friend, Heather, she said when she was a
little girl, she said, "I was constantly playing with dolls,
always cutting their hair, just jacking it all up, cutting
hair." She said, "I was always just putting more and more
makeup on all the dolls." She was telling me earlier that she
would watch her grandmother in the bathroom mirror putting all
this makeup on. She said, "I could just smell the makeup."
Today, she not only does my makeup for TV, but she does
photo shoots for models and she even models herself, but her
gift of putting makeup on is actually making room for her,
just like the Bible said, and bringing her before great men.
She does makeup for Kari Jobe, Christine Caine, Kenneth
Copeland, James Robison, Terri Savelle Foy. Think about it.
That's a gift that God gave her. Since she was a little girl, she
had a love for it, and now it's causing her to prosper. A former
coworker of mine, Luke, he said that he was 10 years old when
home computers hit the market. He said he would play games for
hours when finally it dawned on him there must be control system
to change the settings on this game. He said he figured out how
to change the configurations in order to beat his siblings at
the game, at 10 years old. Today, he's a web master. When
you think about what you enjoyed as a kid ... In fact, before I
came in here, I texted our financial investor, and I just
said, "Adam, tell me what you enjoyed doing as a kid because
since you're an investor, I'm just curious, what did you do?
Play Monopoly or something? He said, "You know, it's funny." He
said, "I would go to work with my dad who was a financial
advisor," and he said, "My dad would have me file things and
work on stuff with him," and he said, "I started learning the
stock market as a little kid." Then he said, as he grew up, he
got real involved in sports, which is very competitive, and
he said, "I feel like that's helped me because the stock
market is so competitive. I'm actually doing what I love to
do." See, sometimes, you can just go back to your childhood
and see what were those things you loved. Judy Missett, she
said since she was 2 years old, she knew she wanted to be a
dancer. Years later, she was the founder of Jazzercise, where you
dance the weight off. I can't help but think of my husband,
Rodney. He loves video games. He will play games for hours. Do
you know, today, he owns one of the largest arcade
distributorships in the south? Think about what did you enjoy
as a kid. This is not the only way to identify it. If you're
like, "I don't know. I can't even remember," that's not the
only way you can identify your gifts, but that's one of them.
Number two, second question, is what comes natural to you? What
are just some of those natural things that you do and maybe
even people have said to you, "You are so good at that." What
were you doing when people said that? Those are indicators that
it's a gift. It could be writing or drawing, recruiting,
designing, coaching, cleaning, serving, making pies. See, the
abilities that you have are a strong indication of what God
wants to do with your life. Those are clues to knowing God's
will for you. In fact, I remember, people would tell me
sometimes, they loved when I would write these goofy little
poems, and I was like, "Anybody can do that." All my friends in
college, they wanted me to write their birthday cards. After they
had kids, they'd say, "Would you write my little girl's
invitation to the party and make one of your poems?" I would
think, "Anybody can do that." I had no idea it was a goofy
little gift that the Lord gave me, but those are indicators of
some of the things God wants you to do. I write. I write books.
Once you discover your gift, the Bible says it will prosper you.
In fact, I love this story. This is a true story about this
little boy named Amos who, he was 12 years old and he was
living in Florida and he said his parents had a rough
background. They split up and he said really neither one of them
wanted him to live with them. So he said he went up to live with
his aunt in Manhattan. Well, one day, he said he went into the
kitchen and he smelled something so wonderful. She was baking
cookies. And she began to show him all these ingredients that
went into the cookies that made them just a little different
than everybody else. It was an ingredient nobody else was
putting in the cookies. I have no idea what it was. But anyway,
he said years went by and as he got ready to go off to college
and enter into a profession, he said he started playing with
that cookie recipe. And he was adding all these different
ingredients, just making it a little better, and he was just
naturally gifted at making these cookies. Well, later on, his
aunt passed away and he said he went off to college and he
wanted to be a musician or an actor. He wanted to be in that
industry, but he didn't have the gifts for it. He didn't have a
natural gift for acting or for music. So he said he went to
school to get a degree and then he wanted to become an agent. He
thought, "Well, at least if I could become an agent, I'll be
as close to the industry as I can get." Well, as he's doing
this, he said, "Being a new agent, I got to figure out a way
to attract clients." Because he said, "The first day, I can't
just call these people up and say, 'Hey, I want to represent
you.'" Because he said, "The first thing they're going to ask
is, 'Who do you currently represent?'" So he began
thinking, "How am I going to get my foot in the door to even get
time with these people to pitch myself to them?" So he began
thinking about it and he said, "My cookies. That's what I could
do." Now I want you to recognize from this story, notice what
your gift will do for you. The Bible says that it will prosper
you so not only will you earn a good living and bring you before
great men, but your gift will open up doors of opportunity for
you. So Amos said, "What's the one thing I have to get my foot
in the door with these musicians and actors? My cookies." He
said, "I can make cookies that can beat everybody else." Sure
enough, he made the cookies, sent them to the musicians and
all of a sudden people wanted to know who made these cookies. So
they began asking, "Order more of those cookies." So he said to
them, "I'll give you more cookies if you give me five
minutes of your time." Well, they did. And sure enough, he
pitched himself to them and he ended up signing with some of
the best. Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, The Supremes, Simon and
Garfunkel, number of a great musicians signed with him as an
agent. And every one of them, the way he got time with them
was with his cookies. Well anyway, think about this story,
how your gift will make room for you. Marvin Gaye came up to him
years later and he said, "You know, you're pretty good with
this agent things, but you're real good
with the cookie thing." He said, "We've been
talking. We think you need to open up a cookie
store." And he said, "There's no money to be made with a cookie
store." Marvin Gay said, "With your cookies, there's money to
be made." So he told him, he said, "I will give you 25,000
dollars as an initial investment to help you open a cookie
store." So in 1973, he opened up his first cookie store in
Manhattan. The first year, it earned 350,000 dollars. The next
year, he was selling millions of dollars from one store to
another and today, Famous Amos cookies are in grocery stores
all over the United States. Well, think about this story.
What happened to him? He got his gifting right. He discovered
that natural gift that God gave him and not only did it make
room for him and bring him before great men, but his gift
caused him to prosper. He's able to take care of his children and
his children's children and he uses his finances to serve
others. Well, I want you to think about some of the gifts
and the talents that God has put in your heart, that he's just
naturally given you that maybe you never saw it as a gift, but
God's saying, "Come on. I want to use this. I gave you this for
a reason because I wanted to bring you before great men and I
wanted to prosper you." I want you to get this package we're
offering this week. You are going to have so much fun
listening to this series on your gift. This is three audios and
I've put in here questions to ask yourself to help you
identify the gift that God has given you. There's five
questions in here and these are questions I had to ask myself.
Things like, "What comes natural to you? What do you enjoy? What
makes you just light up when you get an opportunity to do it?"
The type of thing where hours go by and you don't even realize
how much time has gone by or you love doing it so much you even
forget to eat. Those are all indicators of some of your
passion, things that you enjoy doing. Or one of them is what
angers you? Do you know that frustration is a sign of vision?
So I know you're going to love hearing this because it's going
to help you identify what is it? What are those natural gifts
God's given me that he wants me to develop? I even put in here a
personality quiz just to help you kind of identify what are
your strengths and weaknesses in the area of your personality?
Because you need to know yourself. You need to know where
you have these strengths and where you have these
inclinations to do certain things. This is perfect no
matter what age you are, but if you have kids who are in school,
high school, college, graduating, and they're wanting
to know, "What does God want me to do with my life?" Get this
for them. Have them listen to it while they're getting ready in
the morning, while they're driving, or if you're just
saying, "I don't know what I want to be when I grow up and
you're 50 years old," I understand. You need to listen
to this. And just start journaling the things that come
up in your spirit. Along with this, I have the story of your
life. Now this message I know it's going to give you
encouragement on the fact that you can still change your story.
You may not have had anything to do with how your story started,
but you have everything to do with how your story ends. Well,
God's the one who said that you have to stir up the gift that's
on the inside of you. In other words, once you discover your
gift, develop it. And here's the thing, we don't have time to
waste. That's why I had to get ahold of things like this and
start learning, what are the gifts that God wants me to run
with? Why? Because God's going to hold you accountable for what
he called you to do. He's going to ask you two questions when
you get to heaven. Number one, "What did you do with my son
Jesus?" Number two, "What did you do with the gifts I gave
you?" So I want you to get this special package. I believe it's
going to help you get serious about the plan of God and get
moving. I love to remind you on every broadcast, don't look at
the years you've lost, don't look at the opportunities you've
missed, the mistakes you've made. Let's look at the years
you've got left and start living your dream. Don't look at
everybody else and what they're doing because one
day, you're going to stand before God and give an
account for your life not anybody else's life.
So discover your gift and run with it.
ANNOUNCER: Your talents and abilities are a gift from God
and discovering and developing those gifts can dramatically
change your life. That's why Terri is offering you her three
part teaching called Your Gift today. In this motivational
series, you'll be inspired as you discover how to unlock,
develop, and increase your gifts, how your personality
complements your purpose, how your capabilities support your
calling, and much more. It's never too early or too late to
know what God wants to do with your life. Plus, for a limited
time, when you request your gift, we'll also send you The
Story of Your Life bonus CD. You didn't have a choice on how your
story started but you have everything to do with how it
progresses. So don't delay. Call toll free 800-795-5597
or visit us online at teri.com to request your copy
of Your Gift along with The Story of Your Life.
(Music)
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