Everyone Is Gifted!: Allow the Gifts Within You to Be Released - Despite Yourself

By Gwendolyn Woods

With all the so-called self-help discovery books fl oating around, are you Gwendolyn Woods
still not sure about your purpose for being here? Are you stuck in a rut?
Lacking in faith or courage? Do you have an ego problem? This book will
help you discover, once and for all, your lifes calling, your gifts, and their
potential. It discusses how you can break through fear and other barriers
that stifl e your gifts, focuses on often overlooked details that puts the use of
your gifts into perspective, and includes information to help you give yourself
an ego check-up

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 13, 2010
• ISBN: 9781462818853

Gwendolyn Woods

Gwendolyn Woods is a singer/songwriter, author, and motivational speaker from Kansas City, Missouri. She has been active in Christian ministry for more than 25 years, acting in plays and lending her voice in studio and live recordings for numerous gospel musical productions. An amateur photographer who plays the fl ute and studied piano, she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri, and a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Park University. She is preparing to record a solo album project.

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Copyright © 2010 by Gwendolyn Woods.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The scriptures in this text are of the New International Version, unless otherwise noted.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1

What’s Your Thing?

Chapter 2

The Discovery of Your Gifts

Chapter 3

Learning About Your Gift

Chapter 4

Gifts and Fear

Chapter 5

A Calling, a Fresh Anointing, and the Ego

Chapter 6

Be Character Driven

Appendix

Dedication

To my mother Lillie and my brother DeWayne, whose voices I love to hear most of all; to Victor Jones, Patricia Wilson Smith and my musical family, Joy Unlimited, for whom God has granted a hilariously abundant supply of gifts; and to everyone who ever directed, me, played for me, or sang along with me to help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, I dedicate this book to you.

Have you always been the backup singer but never the featured artist? Well, now may be your time to shine! If you really want the spotlight, then you may just have to take the mike and go for it. I remember once, I was in a Kansas City theatre enjoying a John P. Kee concert, when he asked if there was anybody out there who never gets a chance to lead a song in their church choir. Lots of people raised their hands. Then he told them to come up on stage and they can sing right then! It was so much fun watching people leaping from their seats and running up on stage. They each took the mike, one by one, and added their own style and rendition to the song that was playing. Even my friend Antonio, who was sitting near me and who sang in my church choir, ran up there. I was shocked, and I laughed hysterically as he practically snatched the mike from someone’s hand and started to belt out his own rendition. I remember thinking how nice his voice was. I’d never known that his voice sounded that good or that he’d ever even wanted to sing lead in our choir. I sang lead in our choir all the time, so witnessing all this made me feel that I sometimes took it for granted—this gift that I had and the opportunity I had to use it. But as the years of my ministry went on, I did a lot of nonchalant pretending that I wasn’t interested in singing, when the truth was I really wanted to sing. You’ll find out why I did this as you read along.

Music ministry is my life and has been for many years. I wanted to find an avenue in which I could write about my experiences and make it meaningful and helpful. So for the singers everywhere, those with small voices and those with booming voices, for the shy and timid singers or the confident singers who can hold their own before any crowd, hopefully there is something here for everyone. I hope that those with a desire to serve or to take care of others outside religious-based ministry will also find it helpful.

Are you doing what you really want to be doing in life? Are you in a rut? Are you stuck because of life situations, or has your faith waned a bit? Do you lack courage, or do you just have an ego problem? This book is geared toward those in Christian ministry but can be helpful in all areas of gifts or talents. It is a sometimes painful but honest testimony on the pressures sometimes felt in ministry obligations and a discussion on tackling obstacles in personal and organizational ministry successes. It’s designed to help you to turn off your negativity faucet and turn on your creativity faucet. It offers inspiration to help you discover the calling in your life and your gifts and their potential. It also discusses how you can break through fear and other barriers that stifle your gifts. It reminds you of how your gifts can only be a blessing when they are shared with others. And it includes information to help you give yourself an ego check.

Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work.—Charles Kingsley

Introduction

Who am I? Where am I going? Why am I here?

As born-again believers in Christ, we have all asked ourselves these age-old questions by now.

Here are some of the answers you may have heard:

Who am I? You are a child of the Almighty God.

Where am I going? You are going to heaven when you die.

Why am I here? You are here to worship and praise God. This means to acknowledge and reverence Him daily in and about everything that you do. It means you are to be an example and a light for Him.

And now, what is it that God has for me to do? Even when we are convinced we have the answer, we wonder at times if there may be more to it than what we already know. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering about this, and sometimes I still feel unsure. At some point, this question is asked of everyone, and the answer will be different for everyone. But I believe the general