What are my gifts?

(2/9) We opened with a beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit requesting that the Holy Spirit grant us the many gifts of the Spirit.  This week’s lesson is on the vocation of the laity. The mood of the group is downcast - everyone seems to be drained. This could be because they have been locked down all day during the packing up of 20+ prisoners, who are being transferred to Perryville.  

With F.A. gone our group has dwindled to three participants, two sponsors and me.  We have been temporarily moved to another classroom, our regular room is filled with the transferring inmates’ possessions. I thank God that we have a nice classroom though not as large. In the past year, the prison had difficulty finding a place for us and we had to use the “strip shack” for a couple of months. This “room” is used for searching the inmates as they return from their outside work details and dredges up unpleasant images for my girls.

   

We begin the lesson and during the chapter review, one of the women reveals that she did not read the chapter. This happens now and then. I am fine with it as long as they are honest with me, upfront. Then another says that she was unable to do the written homework. I recall from last year that the women in that group also had a hard time with this particular homework. The homework was to “Name the gifts God has given you and how God might be calling you to use these gifts in making the world a better place. If you don’t know what your gifts are - ask a friend.”

This homework is particularly challenging for these ladies because they find it extremely hard to name anything good about themselves. The whole concept of prison is to make you feel bad about what you did, unfortunately it goes overboard and makes you feel that everything about you is bad. They have been told for so long that they are bad that finding something in themselves that is good is almost impossible.

When asked why she didn’t find a friend to help her, T.S. said that she couldn’t find anyone to help her. D.B. also could not find someone to ask except for her cellmate who refused to help her because they don’t “share the same faith or beliefs.” D.B. was completely frustrated and did her homework on her own. R.S. asked her sponsor and came up with a long list of gifts. Before they shared what they had written, I asked one of the sponsors if she could give an example by listing her gifts.

M.S. has great self awareness and came up with a long list.  This helped break the ice and R.S. listed her gifts. D.B. read hers which was a short list but very insightful. We talked with T.S. who was sure that she did not have gifts. After awhile we found that she is very organized and taught herself how to take computers apart and put them back together again. We talked about how those gifts could be used to help others find Christ.

Sometimes one must take the time to look inward and list the many gifts that have been given to each one of us. If we don’t know our gifts, how can we use them.  God did not give us gifts to be used only for our own enjoyment or never using. We must use what he has given us, to promote the gospel and the message of Christ. Do you know what your gifts are? Are you using them for His glory?

Please pray for these ladies and our prison community as they continue their walk with the Lord.