A delicious gift of fine chocolates.

Think about your husband bringing you home a surprise gift of delicious, fine chocolates. You untie the beautiful blue bow, and open it, finding creamy chocolate bars, chocolate truffles, chocolates with almonds, cream-filled chocolates, dark chocolates….all the chocolate you could want, ready for you to eat to your heart’s content.

They smell wonderful, and make your mouth water. But you do not even say thank you. Instead, you take the gift, wrap it back up, and put it in the back of your bedroom closet, never letting them see daylight again….and they finally go bad! Would that be a very respectful way to treat your husband? No, he wants you to use the gift he’s given you ~ and enjoy them, to delight in them. It gives him immense pleasure to see you unwrapping a chocolate bar and biting into it, savoring the taste…and enjoying the chocolate with you!

This is the way it is with our spiritual gifts. God has put spiritual gifts inside of us to further His kingdom and for His glory. Yes, your gifts are like fine chocolates, wonderful gifts for you to unwrap, for you, God, and others to enjoy. They are for the glory of Jesus, and will further God’s kingdom on earth. We don’t need to hide them, but to use them. What are the spiritual gifts, and where are they listed in the Bible? Maybe you are not familiar with the spiritual gifts, and don’t know they function or how to operate in them. Maybe you’ve never used your gifts before, but would like to begin.

My new podcast, The Spiritual Gifts, answers these questions from the Bible and encourages you to use the great gifts God has put inside of you. God wants to use you in ways that you cannot even begin to imagine. Just as the tip of an iceberg only reveals the visible part of the ice, and what is underneath the surface of the water is an enormous iceberg, so it is with our spiritual gifts. We have not even yet begun to tap into our potential in Christ. God wants to draw these incredible gifts out of you and me, for His glorious purposes, to reach a lost and dying world.

You can listen to my podcast at MyPodcast.com, and subscribe with Itunes or your feed reader. http://bethjones.mypodcast.com/.

Our daughter Heather, her husband Kyle, and their two daughters have been visiting a new church lately to see if it may be the right fit for them. Today at Heather’s invitation, I went to visit it, too, and really enjoyed it. Friendly door greeters, contemporary worship by a live band, a great kids’ church, and practical, Biblical teaching by the pastor on getting out of debt, in order to bless and help others, were just a few of the things this church had to offer.

Some people get together on Sundays to honor the Sabbath, and others on Saturday or another day of the week. No matter what day you and your family set aside to worship God, take time each week to honor God, to rest, and to be rejuvenated. We were not designed by God to go 24/7, 365 days a year. Our bodies require both spiritual and physical rest. Even God rested on the seventh day after He created the earth and all in it! And how much more so do we need it!

Very often, as Joyce Meyer says, we get our who (who we are) mixed up with our do. We are caught in that trap of the tyranny of the urgent….doing all we can every day – going, going, going, like the energizer bunny. Then we wonder why we feel so tired and can’t seem to get anything done. Sometimes we just need to be.

Taking a day to study God’s word, to worship Him, to celebrate, to relax and have fun with our family and friends, and even to take a siesta after lunch will refill us and energize us for the week ahead. God commanded us to honor the Sabbath and to keep it holy in the 10 commandments. God didn’t just forget about the Old Testament and the commandments when the New Testament came along. He still means what He said! There is a reason for everything God tells us – it’s for our own good! Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

So let’s be wise, honoring God and observing a day of rest each week…for Him, for us, and for those around us.

Me about to work a flight

About two years ago, my husband Ray and I went through a really tough time financially when he lost his full-time job. Although highly qualified in many professional fields and well-educated, he was unable to get a job for an entire year! After the first few months of much prayer and no doors opening for him, we decided that I would seek part-time work to help. No doors opened for me, either, but I did see an ad in the paper for a flight attendant position.

I was not planning to work full-time, but the idea of travel appealed greatly to me. My husband encouraged me to apply. My interview did not last long (interviewers are trained to screen quickly for good candidates), and I thought that I did not get the job. To my shock, I was hired immediately as a flight attendant for a company that supplied small jets for a larger airline. I had a garage sale to raise money for my food and needs during the three weeks of flight attendant training in another state, and family and friends also blessed me greatly with money to help me start this new adventure. Ray would stay home and take care of our daughter, while still looking for a new job, and I would fly home when I could…and they’d fly to see me, too. We planned to eventually sell our house and move to my base city to be together again.

I worked six months as a flight attendant, being stationed in Florida, and absolutely LOVED it. But I resigned at Christmas, because I just could not stand being away from my family so long (I was only able to fly home to see my family about four times the entire six months, and my family was unable to move to Florida at that time). Here are some life lessons I gleaned from my time there that might be helpful to you:

• You can do it! I did not think I’d be hired, because I had no airline experience. I had to memorize airport codes and much other information to get to the second phase of hiring at the training school in another state, and was tested on them. You either passed it or failed. If you failed, they flew you back home. I did not think I’d ever be able to memorize the codes, and pass. I also did not think I’d ever be able to memorize my announcements to the passengers, but eventually I did with enough study and practice. With God nothing is impossible!
• Conquer your fears head-on. I was so scared I’d never be able to pass my final training test, working on the actual plane with a supervisor. Here I had to show the supervisor, in front of real, live passengers, that I knew how to do everything that I’d learned in training. My husband Ray also said that making the announcements to the passengers was excellent public speaking training. As I spoke into the phone up front to welcome the passengers on board and to give instructions, they would all look up front and stare at me, lol. Talk about nerve-wracking. But it was great training, and my fear subsided as I got used to it…and even began really enjoying it. Whatever you are wanting to do, with God’s help you can do it!
• Be instant in and out of season (2 Timothy 4: 2). Once I arrived at my base in Florida, I quickly learned that it was best to always be prepared for a possible flight. We had to be immediately accessible by cell phone in case another flight attendant was sick, and Crew Tracking needed a replacement, or CT had assigned us another trip. Each night I would make sure my uniform was clean, pressed, and hung up, I had panty hose with no snags or holes (flight attendants go through hose like crazy), I had my Bible, a good book, and toiletries packed, and at least snack items, if not a packed lunch. (I think I became somewhat OCD during that time, making sure this was all done!). Then when Crew Tracking called me and told me I had a trip (lasting anywhere from one to four days), I was prepared and not freaking out, trying to get everything together at the last minute (like some flight attendants I knew did!). As Christians, we need to always be prepared and ready to tell others about why we believe in Christ (1 Peter 3: 15), and share with them the good news.
• Learn, and keep learning. Knowledge empowers us. During my pre-flight check, as passengers boarded and stowed their bags, and on my final check of the plane before take-off, I mentally reviewed the safety procedures I’d learned during my training – doors and exits locked and secure, making sure passengers had on seat belts and their seats were in proper take-off position, their table for snacks and drinks was put up and locked, bags were either in the overhead compartments or tucked under seats, and other important safety pre-cautions for everyone on the plane. I shut the front cabin door making sure it was secure, and strapped myself into my jumpseat; as the plane was going down the runway, I would again review emergency procedures in my mind. I needed to retain what I’d learned, and apply it to each flight. Are you learning from God’s word each day, gaining knowledge and wisdom from Him, living it out practically?
• Serve God and others with love (Galatians 5: 13). Most people think that a flight attendant’s main job is to serve drinks and snacks. But that isn’t true. Her main job is passenger and crew safety. However, it was part of my job as a flight attendant to serve drinks and snacks every flight, as long as it was not a really short flight. The plane aisle was extremely narrow, and I would have to first make an announcement, then prepare the serving cart (a bucket of ice and scoop, napkins, cups, sugar, creamer, canned sodas, juices, and water) and push it to the back, serving everyone until I reached the front. Smiling at passengers and being as friendly as possible went a long way in making it a pleasant flight for everyone (and not all passengers were friendly back, or easy to deal with!). I knew that I was anointed in my job walking down that aisle – or even pouring a Coke for someone and handing them peanuts! I felt that simply being a servant was a way to witness to others about Jesus, without having to say very much (our lives being a living epistle to the lost). As believers, we should be known by our loving service to others. And ministry should always start in the home, with our family! Do you serve your family and those around you, willingly and cheerfully, as unto the Lord?
• Trust God. When I finally came back home after I resigned, my former pastor asked me wasn’t I ever afraid of flying and that the plane would crash (like many people, flying made him nervous because it’s out of your control). I could honestly answer him no, because I LOVE flying. It’s FUN! Even on bumpy flights with a lot of turbulence, I felt a confidence and trust in God. I knew that plane was not going to crash as long as I was on it – I prayed over that flight, myself, and all the passengers, and was in God’s loving hands – and He was not finished with me yet! But even if the plane did crash, I knew where I was going for eternity! Do you? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? If not, I invite you to ask Him to be your savior. He is my best friend – and it will be the most exciting ride of your life! If you do already know Him, do you trust Him, really trust Him with everything in your life? Give him your worries, fears, concerns, dreams and desires. God cares about every detail of your life, and loves you! Trust God for “a safe flight” in life, and a great adventure!
• Have an adventure. I loved being a flight attendant! It was one of the funnest times of my life, and when our daughter is grown and moved out of the house, I may do it again. Traveling is so much fun. I was able to fly all over the east coast as a flight attendant – for free! One of my benefits was that my family was also able to fly free. I flew Ray and Leah to Florida to visit Sea World. I love dolphins, and we had so much fun looking at all the different animals. Leah had never been to the beach before in her entire life (born in Missouri), and we were able to rent a car and drive to the beach. She loved the ocean, and had a blast. Later, we also flew to New York to see Niagara Falls, one of my dreams come true, and to Georgia to visit my family there. One weekend on my days off, I flew to Portland, Maine, on a trip by myself to see light houses and visit “up north” (someplace I’d never been). One of the trips I worked was to Miami, and on the night of my arrival, I went out with the crew to eat at a Cuban seafood diner. The air was warm and balmy, palm trees stood tall with the backdrop of a crisp, blue sky, and musicians played for the diners. I visited many other places working as a flight attendant. I toured the museum in Birmingham, Alabama, seeing the special, nation-wide exhibit of Pompeii’s volcanic explosion that buried the city. They had some archaeology plasters of some of the volcano’s victims, and many other remains that had once been buried by lava. It was fascinating and horrifying at the same time. I watched a pretzel maker in Chicago, and tried one of the large, salted, buttered treats for the first time – yum! In cities I took buses and went shopping for summer clothes and cute shoes. Life is meant to be lived as an adventure, not as a boring, monotonous routine. What are you wanting to do? Are you doing it? If not, why not? Really live!
• Our final destination is going to be so awesome! Although work was really fun, it was always such a relief to get back to my apartment in Florida after a long trip, especially the three or four day trips. Sometimes I’d have anywhere from three to six flights on a single day, and when you had several days of that, you are just exhausted afterward! After six months of working 10 to 12 hour shifts, and not being able to see my family much at all during that time, I decided to resign at Christmas. I missed my family too much! Homecoming was so sweet and good. As Christians, our redemption is drawing near and our homecoming, our final destination with Christ in eternity, is going to be incredible. I can’t wait! How about you?