A few months ago the news media announced that a huge diamond had been found in a diamond mine in South Africa. It is the biggest diamond that mankind has ever discovered. They even showed a picture of the precious stone.

As I examined it, I could not help thinking how common and ugly this multi-million dollars worth of stone looked. It was still in its original state and had not been polished yet. To my uneducated eye, it appeared to be a regular piece of glass.

That is how we often view our own talents and skills. To God they are like precious stones, because He knows their huge potential, but they don’t seem very special in our own eyes.

Many times we look at what is in our hands and it doesn’t seem like much to us. Sure, we have this strength, but so do many others and they seem to excel in them much more than we do.

Be careful when these kind of thoughts cross your mind. Motivate yourself.You might be throwing away a piece of glass that in reality is a diamond in the rough.

If you think your talents are no big deal, you might be struggling in one of these areas:

Don’t Despise Small Beginnings

Anybody who ever excelled in anything had to start from scratch. In some point of their lives they determined to take that diamond in the rough and work and train and drill themselves until all its beauty could unfold.

We have to keep in mind that, when we admire the accomplishment of somebody, we are seeing the fruit of a long–and often painful–process of development. This time of preparation is most often lived in silence. A silence in which many a tear was shed and many a drop of sweat was brushed from the brow.

During this time of silence these people were nobodies. They were on their own, pushing and pressing while no one else but God believed in them. Not many successful people talk about the difficulties they encountered on their way to success, because, in the light of victory, the dark moments of the battle are quickly forgotten.

Perfectionism

Are you a so called overachiever? Do you pride yourself in setting high standards? Then you might have fallen into the trap of perfectionism.

Perfectionism is the enemy of everything that could have been good. It limits our capabilities, because, whatever we do, it will never be good enough. If perfectionists can’t attain a certain level, they just don’t do it because they have high standards and can’t settle for less. It is a recipe for failure.

The root of the problem with perfectionists is that it is all about them. God has an amazing plan for them, but it’s not for their glory. It is for His.

Hold Your Gifts Up to God

Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fish and a loaf of bread. Before doing that He held them up to God and God performed a miracle. Likewise, you can also hold your meager, unpolished talents and skills up to God in faith, and He will empower them and multiply them beyond anything you could ever imagine.

20f8

I’d like to invite you to go for it! Visit http://www.Self-DirectedLearningForSuccess.com for tips and tools for creating and growing in your own learning process. Learn how to teach yourself in my FREE e-book: “The Power of Self-Directed Learning”, and my FREE e-course: “Seven Steps to Consistently Change Your Life.”

From Bettina Langerfeldt, who teaches people how to pursue their God-given gifts and talents by designing their own education with self-directed learning.

(C) 2008 Freedompioneer

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bettina_Langerfeldt

Technorati Tags: raise godly children

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit….
Read more…

Hey Readers! I’ve been comin across some crazy stuff the past few days from a few different blogs around the web which I just had to share with you. Check em out below…

Discipling the Family: 4 Ways to Raise Godly Children

4 Ways to Raise Godly Children. 1. Work on the heart issues. We can focus so much on behavioral aspects of parenting. Like etiquettes, manners, communication skills and so forth. But the true test of discipleship is the heart. …

Home School Book Review · “Horrible Harry and the Green Slime”

However, may aim is not to raise just “normal” kids but “godly” children. These books are more about “worldly” kids, and I believe that parents who want to raise “godly” children need better literature than this. …

Raising Godly Children

What does it involve for me and you as parents to intentionally teach, instruct, and raise our children in a godly way? Here's for your benefit too, some points from JC Ryle's booklet on The Duties of Parents. …

Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.

Have a great day!

Technorati Tags: raise godly children

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Read more…

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Read more…

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
Read more…

“The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Read more…

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Read more…

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”
Read more…

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Read more…