guidance – Mark Joseph Ministries

Here’s the thing, most of us Christians compartmentalize our faith, doing it on Sunday and living our lives without considering God much the other 6 days of the week. My lived experience is that there is a very practical reality to our faith. Recognizing and embracing our God given talents, understanding and pursuing our God given purpose, brings us the peace, joy, and fulfillment we all strive for.

There’s a practical way of getting there. Consistent with God’s call on our lives, which comes from the Great Commandments and Great Commission, both from Scripture, we need to understand our “why”. You may have heard of Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why and Find your Why. Simon writes and speaks about our “why”, as opposed to our “how” or “what”. He indicates that our “why” is what motivates us, gets us up in the morning, drives us, and keeps us going.

In addition to his books, you can find YouTube videos by Simon on how to develop your “why”. I can send you a document that will guide you through the process, should you desire. Just email me. I’d recommend watching The Golden Circles, where Simon describes the concept:

Having gone through Simon’s process, my “why” is to share the unconditional love of Jesus Christ and the lessons God our Father taught me with as many people as possible, so that they can live lives of true peace, joy, fulfillment, and find their greatness. I’d invite and encourage you to understand your “why”.

The next step in the process is to understand your talents, your unique gifts, given to you by God. Should you desire, there are several tools that you can use to determine your talents, motivations, personality types. You may have heard of:

StrengthsFinder
DISC
Myers Briggs
Predictive Index
MCODE

There are many more. No matter how inane the questions seem, the assessments always peg you. My talents from StrengthsFinder are:

Activator
Achiever
Arranger
Relator
Responsibility

My motivations from MCODE are:

To Overcome
Bring to Completion
Make an Impact

These are secular assessments, which is intentional on my part. I think most often we dismiss Church stuff, believing in the secular…after all, it’s what we experience in helping us in real life. I think it’s marrying the two, Faith and Reason, where we find our Greatness. Two authorities on this are St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas. BTW, God created it all.

Regardless of whether you’ve done assessments like the ones I just mentioned or not, I’d suggest taking this to prayer. Pray through what you believe your talents to be. Make a list, writing them down. Think through the things that you’re good at. God made each of us with specific and unique talents. The things that you really enjoy would be a good indication. Then listen for His voice…what’s God putting on your heart

Then do the same for your desires, the things that you like to do, desire to do, or achieve in your life…big things, little things, short and long-term. What mark do you want on this world? Again, listen for God’s voice…what’s He putting on your heart

Do the same thing for your needs. You may categorize them as the physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and even financial. Again, make your list and pray through them.

In addition to the above, I’d suggest discussing these things with others…advisors, mentors, those you can trust. Ask them to speak into them.

Marrying these things…your talents, desires, and needs to your “why” will give you your God given purpose…the “what” and “how” to your life. Next week, we’ll learn how we hone those talents and find our greatness.

As always, please email me at [email protected] with comments, concerns, questions, and prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember….God made you for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph

What do you read to inspire you? Or listen to? What inspires you? I love reading books about our faith and leadership, my favorite topics. I’m on the email distribution lists of my favorite authors. One of them, a great inspiration, is John O’Leary. A burn victim as a youth, John has mastered making lemonade out of lemons. You can find John’s books (great reads), blogs, and other products at https://johnolearyinspires.com.

In his September 20th email, John told a story about a young girl he met at a burn camp for children. This courageous girl was burned years earlier, sustaining injuries similar to his, and had lost the fingers on her right hand. Because of that, she wore an oversized sweatshirt at camp to cover the scars on her arm and hide the extent of her injuries. John explains further below.

You don’t have to be a child to know sometimes it feels safer to simply hide scars.

At camp that day, I shared with the kids what I went through as a child and the gifts that came from it. I reminded them of the beauty of scars, the resiliency they possess, and ultimately, that they are being prepared for something bigger and better than they can currently fathom.

Afterwards, this beautiful girl approached in her sweatshirt. She stood in front of me, took a deep breath, then exhaled as she rolled up her sleeves for the first time that week. She then proudly lifted her scarred arm and hand.

You don’t have to be a child to know sometimes it’s liberating to honestly reveal your scars and embrace who you really are.

As we hugged goodbye at the end of that meeting, I told her we weren’t done being friends and the next time I was in her part of the state we were hanging out.

That’s how a few weeks later, at a little restaurant off the interstate, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with this brave girl. Her grandfather sat nearby as we visited about her experiences, what she had endured, the struggles she faced in recovery, the concerns she felt moving forward and the dreams she still had for her life. In other words, we had an awesome visit!

That interaction, with that young girl, reminded me it’s seldom in the massive events and huge gatherings where we change the world. It’s the regular moments, in unexpected spaces, with ordinary people that the best of our work and lives is revealed.

Too often, we race to what we thought was the real work, but it’s seldom found in the big stuff – the big trip, the big project, the big win. No, the best and most meaningful aspects of our lives are discovered in the seemingly ordinary experiences, tender moments of grace, and ordinary human interactions with others throughout the day.

If you want to read John’s post in total, you can read it in full here.

Not only does John’s story speak to the Great Commandments…love God and love others, but it’s the only Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!

As always, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless and remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph