Stay true to God-given gifts for success
It was toward the beginning of my professional career when I received the opportunity to co-anchor the primetime news in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. I was ecstatic ... and nervous.
I made an appointment with my pastor, the Rev. Norman Neaves, to discuss this life change.
As I began sharing with him my vision of who I would become, he looked at me intently. “You have everything you need to be successful,” he said. “But it’s important to be authentic to who you are.”
“You are smart enough to study the way other people act, and mimic them,” he said, “but you will always feel afraid of being found out. Your strength comes from who God made you to be.”
I wasn’t so sure. My early performance on television in Texas reflected my desire to be taken seriously. I wore dark suits, cut my hair short and minimized my makeup. I covered the hardest news stories and was careful with the on-air back-and-forth banter. I wanted no frivolity.
After a few months, my news director called me in. He said their research on me was positive — except for one thing. “You’re too serious,” he said. “Just be yourself.”
So I was. As I worked with intensity and integrity, my style of communicating shifted. Now my interactions with people, both in person and on air, were no longer based on who I thought people expected me to be.
I was just, “Janie from Laverne.” Success — and the joy of doing my job — skyrocketed.
Like David of the Old Testament, I simply wasn’t going to do my best, wearing someone else’s armor. When David prepared to face the giant, Goliath, King Saul dressed the young boy in the king’s finest gear. But David said no. Instead, he chose two reliable weapons: trust in God and his shepherd’s sling.
It’s not unusual to feel lacking. Life can take a hammer to us. Somebody else might appear to have the special sauce for achievement. Perhaps they went to a more prestigious school, belonged to a wealthy family or possessed life-of-the-party personalities. Maybe they grew up in a big city — but you didn’t. (That specific lack was one of my greatest insecurities.)
Constant comparisons just make no sense in Kingdom thinking. God made each of us unique for a reason and trying to be someone else will never produce true or lasting rewards.
Looking back at a lifetime of work, I see the importance of being true to our gifts, rather than to ambition. Those gifts may surprise us, inviting us beyond one job or career, offering unexpected paths, or take us on a journey of zigzags rather than a straight line. The Bible says we have each been given one or more gifts for the common good of God’s people. (1Corinthians 12:7)
“Who we were created to be” is key to bringing meaning to our lives and honor to our Creator.
In hindsight, it’s clear that, like King David, I have been given everything I’ve needed to stand tall against the giants of life. I don’t always have to be confident in myself, just confident in the One who made me. If we are faithful, God finds a way to use everything for our good, and for the whole body of Christ. It’s a lesson I return to consistently.
Thank God for His patience!