Strengths and Spiritual Gifts Assignment

I think that a person's career should be able to combine their spiritual gifts, strengths and interests.  For now, I will compare my gifts and strengths.  (My interests would make it too complicated, because I they are so many.) My gifts are serving, teaching and showing mercy.  My strengths are context, responsibility, empathy, intellection and input.  Responsibility would certainly work well with all of the gifts.  Empathy and context would be especially helpful with teaching and showing mercy.  Input could fit well with teaching.  Intellection is the strength I feel most closely described my character.  It refers to the tendency to think, and in my case, somewhat excessively.  I wouldn't mind sitting alone in silence with nothing to do for half an hour (if I didn't have so many things to get done, that is).

Empathy with showing mercy is probably the most compatible pair.  It's a lot easier to show mercy when you understand where a person is coming from.  Many people guard their feelings very carefully and it can be difficult to know when they are needing help.  By being able to pick up on what others are feeling, I can more effectively show mercy to the people that I meet.

I think being aware of my gifts and strengths is really helpful.  It can help me understand why I do some of the things that I do, like lie awake for hours as thoughts shoot around in my tired head.  It can help me realize when I'm doing too much of one strength, such as taking on too many responsibilities.  And, it can bring me one step closer to understanding what God's purpose is for my life, something I'm very eager to discover.