Put your God-given gifts, talents into practice

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” ~John 15:16

I am an introvert.  When I was in high school, I was painfully shy.  When I say painfully, I am not exaggerating.  It was very difficult for me to start up a conversation with someone I did not know.  The exception was when I played sports.  I was able to communicate with my teammates whether I knew them or not.  Within sports it came easily for me to talk to people.   
In college, I decided to major in Broadcast Journalism.  I wanted to be a sportscaster so I thought the path for me was through broadcasting.  For my major, I took speech classes, acting classes, and broadcasting classes.  All of these classes put me in front of people to speak.  In one of my speech classes, I was always the last one in the class to give my speech.  The class did not know me at all and thought that I was going last because I thought my speech would be the best but the reality was that I would put my speech off until forced to get up in front of the class.  People have often perceived me in different ways without realizing the I am very shy and not easily able to start a conversation with someone I do not know.  
When I was in RCIA, we were given a sponsor and divided into small groups.  My sponsor was not very talkative and I was always the last person to share in our small groups.  It was difficult for me to share my faith journey with my sponsor or in my small group.  I was definitely growing in my faith but not very comfortable with sharing it with others.  Honestly, I was content with where I was in life and faith.
Everything changed when I started to get more involved in my parish.  I became a Lector and Eucharistic Minister within a year of Confirmation.  Within the second year, I started teaching religious education to fifth-grade students.  Both of these experiences gave me confidence in myself to share my faith while continuing to learn more about my faith.  When I started teaching religious education, I thought I had a good grasp of the faith.  Looking back, I was actually unprepared.  
As I was going through this process of conversion, I did not realize that I was being prepared for something.  I just thought I was living my life.  Now I realize that God was preparing me to overcome my shyness to be able to share my faith and spread His message.  Sports gave me the voice to speak about something that I was knowledgeable and passionate.  When I was in college, I thought all of the classes were preparing me to be a sports journalist.  Those classes were very instrumental in giving me the confidence to stand in front of people and speak about faith.  Becoming a lector allowed me the opportunity to read from the Bible in front of people.  That first religious education class put me in front of students that would ask me questions about faith that I had not thought of to that point and challenge me.
As we start a new year, I encourage you to think about the gifts and talents that God has given you and make a resolution to put them into practice in sharing your faith with others.  
— Tex Phelps is the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. He may be emailed at [email protected]. Visit our website, www.ArchMobYouth.org Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/ArchMobYouth and follow us on Twitter and Instagram - @ArchMobYouth