You are unique and have a special mix of abilities that God has designed for you. We call this mix your SHAPE, and yesterday we looked at your Spiritual gifts and your Heart.

Your Abilities are your natural talents. Playing piano, working on scientific formulas, or teaching children are all examples of God given talents. Some studies have told us that the average person has from 500 to 700 different talents, and all can be used for God. When we do what God wants us to do for his glory, we are serving him and completing his purpose for us.

Your Personality is the specific unique way that God designed you to react to the world and events around you. You are deeply unique, and God designed you so that no one else is like you, no one else could take your place, and no one else can be who you are. You are irreplaceable.

Your Experiences are also part of God's design for molding you into who he wants you to be. Some different experiences could involve family, school, job, church, ministry, and even painful experiences. Believe it or not, God can use your pain more than anything else if you'll give it to him. Painful experiences develop your character, and you will be able to help others in similar circumstances. Also, painful experiences constantly remind us of how dependent we are upon God, and that we must be willing to share them so that we can help others come to God. Our mistakes, shames, faults, fears, and so many other things that we want to hide can be used by God to help others and heal ourselves if we choose to give them to him and let him work at completing us. Rick Warren tells us, "Don't waste your pain; use it to help others."

Through these five areas, God has designed you specifically to be able to do things that no one else can. Realize that by using each of these areas, you can work towards fulfilling your unique purpose for him here on earth.

Thinking about my purpose:
Know. Nobody else can be me.
Remember. "God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings." -1 Peter 4.10 (LB)
Think about it. What unique parts of my SHAPE do I have to offer my church?