Daily Bread Devotional April 16

Have you ever considered the extraordinary impact of living out your true calling? That's what Catherine Johnson from "Hidden Figures" did, and it's the inspiring centerpiece of our latest heartfelt conversation. Journey with me as we uncover the importance of embracing the unique talents we've been blessed with, from the vibrant energy needed to teach our youngest learners to the sharp acumen required to solve the tech world's most complex puzzles. Drawing from personal stories and the wisdom found in Ephesians 4:1, this episode is a reminder of the influence we can wield when we align our work with our divine purpose. Witness how faith can be subtly and powerfully expressed through our actions, even in environments where open religious discussions are not the norm.

Wrapping up this episode, I'm reaching out to you, the listener, to keep our conversation vibrant and ongoing. Your insights and questions breathe life into our shared journey, so don't hesitate to connect with me via email, Facebook, or Twitter. For those keen on never missing a beat of our future heart-to-hearts, subscribing at our website is the way to go, and I can't wait to give new subscribers a personal shout-out in our next episode. Together, let's continue to explore and grow in our faith, making a difference in our corners of the world, one divine calling at a time. 

You may check out my podcast further on facebook.com/adventuresofjenger, youtube.com/@adventuresofjenger,  and also on twitter @jengeradventure

To subscribe to my podcast go to this link https://www.buzzsprout.com/2353490/supporters/new

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Good morning, ginger Adventurers. I'm going to go ahead and do today's devotional with you. This is for April, the 16th. Today's devotional is titled Ready to Go for God. The scripture that is listed at the top is I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4.1. Again, these devotionals are from Our Daily Bread. You can see that at odborg and actually read the entire devotional for yourself, as I'm only summarizing them here on my podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:51

So today's is actually going over the book the Hidden Figures, and that book is about these women that worked for NASA that were basically human computers. One specifically that they zero in on in this devotional is Catherine Johnson. She was a teacher, she was also a mother and she had this incredible human brain. So her boss at the time basically needed someone who could do mathematical figures and he knew that if he gave the mathematical figures to her, she'd be able to get it right. He told everybody whatever numbers that she gives, you trust those numbers, and they did, and she became an incredible, integral part of NASA's programming. The story about these women is absolutely amazing. Now, originally, catherine wasn't called to be a human computer for NASA. She was called to be a teacher and she was called to be a mom. But eventually that calling to be a human computer for NASA came about and it really changed an integral part of of our history.

Speaker 1: 2:06

And God is also calling us to do certain things. He gives us certain gifts, certain talents, to be able to do certain things. Not everybody can do the same thing. I'm here to tell you it takes a very special person to be able to do kindergarten. I love kindergarten. I absolutely adore my kindergartners, but I can only handle them for about 40 minutes. It takes a very special person to be able to work with them and teach them all day long. So people that are called to do that do an amazing, fantastic job. Like our kindergarten team here is just absolutely incredible. They do such a great job with our kindergartners. Everybody's not called to do that.

Speaker 1: 2:49

My best friend he is a computer guy and an analyst and I'm telling you when he starts talking about his programs I'm just like what Huh? I do not understand that language at all. He is extremely good at it. He can sit there and go through and figure things out in a heartbeat. It's amazing. My other best friend is also a tech guy and I'm telling you what you can. Put any computer in his hands and he can fix it. Any computer of any kind and he can fix it. It might take him a while, kind, and he can fix it. It might take him a while, but he can fix it.

Speaker 1: 3:24

I do not have that talent. So God gives us different gifts, different talents, in order for us to do different things in the world and we are supposed to be witnessing through those things, as we are doing those things and that can be so incredibly hard to do, like when I'm in the midst of doing something. I will admit I'm not always thinking about how I can put God into that. Also, because I teach at a public school, I do have to be careful in how I word things or how I present things. But even with that, there are so many things that I can do that make a huge impact at my school and I can think about inserting God and what God would do, what Jesus would do in certain moments and react to things differently. Because of that, I will say my one best friend that is the analyst of that.

Speaker 1: 4:29

I will say my one best friend that is the analyst. He is an amazing example of living his Christian faith out loud and I've really been observing the way he approaches people, the way he approaches things. He is much more calm than me. I do tend to get like really excited, animated, emotional, and the way he approaches it he's so calm, so relaxed and really listening to others and then just being very soft spoken when he responds to others. And I've started using that same approach when I'm working with some of my more excitable students and it really, really works. It makes a difference If you have a student that is worked up and angry and doing behavior that is not acceptable. Rather than getting angry or stern or yelling, if you approach them softly and you ask questions to get down to the bottom of what's really going on, it makes a huge difference for that student. That is a God thing, my friends. Totally a God thing.

Speaker 1: 5:40

Now the questions for today's devotional I've kind of already answered for me personally, but I will share the questions with you so that you can answer them for yourself and then I'll still also give my answers. So the questions are what has God called you to do? How has he gifted you? So I think it's pretty obvious that God called me to teach. I adore teaching. I especially adore teaching art, but I really do. I adore teaching. I adore working with kids. I adore making that positive impact on them. I absolutely love seeing them discover what they can do, what they're capable of, and watching them pursue that. So God definitely gifted me with that ability to work with kids. I've been working with kids pretty much my whole life. I believe that's what he's called me to do. There could be other things, though. Like I am a mother, I am a teacher, I am a business worker. For a long part of my life I worked inside of restaurant businesses and I do that quite well as well. So there are different things that God has called me to, and I believe that there are still other things that God may call me to.

Speaker 1: 7:00

I just need to always be listening, and I will admit, friends, sometimes that is hard. When I sit down to pray, I am so talkative. I'm a chatterbox. I'm also a chatterbox in real life, and it's very hard for me to sit and listen. As my best friend would say, I would like to get some words in. Can you just pause for a second? Let me respond to that. Well, yes, I actually am looking for a response. So, yes, I would love to pause for that. It's the same thing with God. I am so busy talking that I need to have that reminder to sit and just be quiet in front of God and listen for what he has to say to me. And, friends, I know that that can be hard, especially if the devil's trying to shout louder than God can talk to you, but it's an amazing feeling when you're able to just sit there and really truly listen.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Well, friends, that's all I have for this episode. I love sharing these devotionals with you. I would welcome any comments, questions that you may have. You can reach me at AvengersOfGinger at gmailcom. You can also go to facebookcom slash AdventuresOfGinger or at twitter at GingerAdventures. I welcome all comments. If you would like to subscribe to my channel, you can go to Adventuresofjingercom and there'll be a link that you can click on to subscribe anyone that subscribes to my channel. I will definitely give you a shout out in a future episode. See you on the wild side.