So yesterday night, my lovely RA (resident assistant) staff and myself went through a lovely book and quiz called Strengths Finder (found at this website). It was really cool.

My freshman year we were required to go through the test and find our strengths in our FOCUS (First-Year Orientation and Christian University Success) Class. I thought it was cool then, but it is even cooler now that I am older and hopefully a little wiser.

The cool part about it is, both times, it was so accurate. I have a very easy time looking at my weaknesses, but a hard time finding my strengths. this was a very encouraging thing for me and I look forward to trying to continue working on my weaknesses and trying to strengthen my strengths.

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Strengths Quest (See below for summaries of each)

My five strengths this time around were:
1) Context, 2) Restorative, 3) Individualization, 4) Strategic, 5) Developer.

My five strengths last time around were:
1) Individualization, 2) Developer, 3) Adaptability, 4) Empathy, 5) Input.

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It doesn’t at all surprise me that the two I still have from last time (Developer and Individualization) are people related. And it doesn’t surprise me one bit that the five I have this time are all centered around people and events regarding people in the past and present. I love people. I love any chance to help people and to get to know people. These things are what drive me. Without people in my life, without helping them, and without seeing them succeed, I feel deprived and discouraged. I need those things in my life.

I noticed this about me starting in High School, but more into the second semester of my Freshman year at CBU. The Lord has placed this strong desire for community and people in my life and has given me a passion to see women succeed. When I do not have community, and when I do not have community with women, I get depressed. It is like the Lord is placing an internal alarm system inside of me reminding me of what he put me on this earth for.

Beyond having those communities and beyond seeing those women succeed, I desire to see the Lord glorified. The awesome thing about the two things stated above is that I can do those things and glorify the Lord in them. The Lord has given me a great purpose on this earth and that is to make his name known (as seen in the Psalms posted in my last blog post here). He has given me a gifting that helps me to do what those Psalms say and the whole Bible commands (Ephesians 2 is a great example of this command to live a holy life to bring Him glory).

I have gone through a time this last month or so of intense correction. Finding out my strengths could not have come at a better time. Learning my weaknesses to overcome them was great (and very difficult), but in order to keep succeeding I needed to learn more about my strengths to improve on them and to GROW!!! To all of you who have been so patient with me this month and in the past, thank you. To those of you who are constantly coming in contact with my weaknesses, I’m sorry. And to those of you who will get to help me improve my strengths, I’m excited! The Lord is good and He is teaching me so much about Himself and how we are to live according to the things He has given us in His Word.


Summary of Strengths
This Time Around:
1) Context: People who are especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.
2) Restorative: People who are especially talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it.
3) Individualization: People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.
4) Strategic: People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
5) Developer: People who are especially talented in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements.

Last Time Around:
1) Individualization: People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.
2) Developer: People who are especially talented in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements.
3) Adaptability: People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.
4) Empathy: People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.
5) Input: People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

To Be Continued… =)