When we know our identity in Jesus Christ, it’s natural to flow in the gifts HE gave us to help others and glorify HIM.

        I arrived at Beth’s house ready for my monthly massage in January. I am a plan ahead Girl so I asked Beth what Mondays she had open in February. She said she had Valentine’s Day evening open. My response was, “I’d love to get a massage from you on Valentine’s Day.” Beth always sent a text reminder the morning of my massage appointment. I realized the afternoon of Valentine’s Day that I hadn’t received a text reminder. I was at work and remembered thinking that was strange. Later in the afternoon I realized I had a voice mail message from an unknown number, so I listened to it. It was from Beth’s son. He said Beth had died over the weekend. I was shocked and devastated. I called her son and he told me that Beth had a stroke and she died with all of her family around her. I told him how sorry I was in the midst of tears and how his mother was a wonderful woman. He said, “I agree. Go and call someone you love.” I got off the phone and Face Timed my Mom and told her how much I loved her.

Beth was my massage therapist since 2016 when I started having some trouble with scar tissue on my hip. I saw her almost every month for the last six years. She literally knew every inch of me and challenged me to take care of my body. When I first met her over six years ago, she told me “We only get one body, Stacy. Make sure you not only exercise, but listen to your body and rest too.” 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 tells us that God gifts each of us. I know God gifted Beth with healing hands. I would not be as mobile as I am today without Beth’s help. She knew who she was in Jesus Christ and consistently glorified God. Her confidence came straight from God like it says in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6. She was a massage therapist for athletes, she trained massage therapists, and most importantly she had a relationship with God. She was obedient to what God gifted her to do. The last few months I saw her, she told me I was strong and that I was a good steward of my body. Beth used the gifts God gave her: healing hands and encouragement. Beth taught me to be secure in who I am and love my body and speak life into it instead of criticism and comparison. God used Beth to solidify my identity in Christ and have confidence straight from God. I’ll never forget her.

1.     What spiritual gift(s) do you have, or think you have? How do you practically use it to glorify God?

2.     Are you confident in your identity in Christ? Please share.

3.     Who has God used to solidify who you are in Christ? I suggest you let that person know. 

“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”

(1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NLT)

“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.”

(2 Corinthians 3:4-5 NLT)

Stacy McVane

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