If you have used the information and unearthed your gift you have done what the majority of people take a lifetime to do. Unfortunately, this is just half the battle won.
I have learned that discovering your gift is not the most important thing; it is having the boldness to act upon and become it that is the most supreme object because very few have the balls to do it.
My aim in in this article is balance expectation verses reality of what your gift will bring to your life. Yes you have identified your gift and talents but it will:
· NOT be easy as what you envision in your head.
· Take longer than you think to succeed
· Require you to sweat more than you presumed
But do not despair because these hurdles are designed to specifically keep you at your destination (purpose) and to handle what your purpose will bring once you have reached it. In other words, they prepare you for what is coming.
Knowledge is not power. Why? You can have all the knowledge in the world (all the power) and not use it. Instead, it is the application of knowledge that is power (King Solomon calls it wisdom in the book of Proverbs) and this is usually the distinguishing factor in a person succeeding or not.
Everything grows in a dark place
In between every mountain there has always been a valley. In between every beam of light there are always light bands and dark bands. In a 24-hour day there is time for light and darkness. Just before we see the brilliancy of your gift (in the light), you have to go through dark places (darkness).
Like I mentioned earlier, discovering your gift is not the conclusion. The total transformation of growing from the point where you unlock your gift to where you are successfully using it cannot happen in the light, it HAS TO HAPPEN IN A DARK PLACE. If you plant a mango seed, you do not put it on top of the ground. You bury it in the ground. This is because the seed does not grow in the light, it grows in the dark where:
it is under pressure from the weight of the soil
it is buried and not seen by anybody
it is suffocated
t is under tremendous heat
The seed has to go down first before coming up. What does this mean for you with your gift? It essentially means that life will hide you first. Nobody will see you (nobody sees a seed growing in the ground). But during this period you will be growing so that you are verifiable, proven, valid and that you ring true when you make your way to the top.
The dark place can also be likened to a foetus inside a mother’s womb where the baby grows, where it is supported and where it is nurtured. It cannot transform from being an embryo to a full baby outside of the womb. The womb is to the baby what the dark place is for you; It is where you will get developed, advanced, strengthened reinforced, toughened, bolstered, cultivated and fashioned to face the world with the gift you possess.
Anytime you get to the promise (the influence of your gift) without the process (dark place) failure will result. If you miss the process you will not stand for the promise because the process makes you bare the weight of the promise. And usually, the more downtime you spend in the dark place, the more powerful you will arise. Just ask Nelson Mandela.
If you are not willing to go through the dark place; being misunderstood, being criticized, being judged, being laughed at, being unrecognized, being lonely, being rejected, and possibly losing everything – then you are not ready to move from knowing your gift to applying it.
I believe that your gift is designed in such a way that it will test whether you believe it or not. This is why you find that all true people who are using their gifts with full effect always seem to have a dark story behind them that tested their belief (I will share some of their stories here in Part 3). This is because life doesn’t just allow you to go to the top; you have to swim there and sometimes you will be swimming against the current! It is almost like dreams become a nightmare first before they manifest.
The word “graduation” is rooted in the word “gradual”. I believe that if you stick to your purpose and hold on during the dark mediocre times, you will eventually graduate. Going back to the seed example; the purpose of the seed is to grow into a tree, and once it is a tree nothing will stand in its way including tar or concrete. This is why you readily see trees breaking through roads and concrete pavements. If such a soft substance (the root of the tree) can gradually push and force its way through the road, imagine the all the things you can push through to reach your end destination or purpose.
The lesson
Initially the reason for pursuing your purpose with your gift will be due to ambition. But the more time you spend in the dark place your motives are tweaked, fashioned and aligned with your purpose. Firstly, this will enable you to eradicate and eliminate a lot of confusion and unnecessary detours that you will likely be tempted to take when things seem to not be working out. Secondly, this will result in the discernment of bigger reasons for you possessing your gift rather than having a big car and a big house. Thirdly, the dark places will teach you humility. You will not be in people’s faces telling them who you are or how good you are in a particular area. If you study the gifted individuals of this world, you will quickly recognize how much humility they possess. This, I believe, is due to the dark place that has taught them to act this way.