Conflict

One of the many things my hubby likes to poke fun at me for is the fact that I don't understand electricity.  I what it is and the basics of how to handle it but I cannot comprehend how electricity gets from wind turbines to the socket in my wall.  On our very long drive home from our honeymoon trip, we passed a few turbines and the conversation came up.  After and hour or so of trying to explain it to me and seeing that I had not understood a word he was saying(in my defense it was because he was speaking nerd-talk) he looked at me and said, "Sweetie, there are wizards in the towers and they wave their magic wands and abra-cadabra! there is electricity in our house!"  That works for me.  Okay, I know it's dumb, but it works for me.  I don't really need to know how it works as long as it does work. 
The same conversation arose once when my brother(who is a gifted mechanic) was explaining what was wrong with me car.  After talking about gaskets, seals, pistons and doohickeys I politely told him that, gas goes in my car and my car goes forward.  Simple.  I was taught the basics of car care, how to change the oil, tires and the basics of checking the engine.  As a practical person I know that oil is a lubricant and therefore it must lubricate parts of my engine and is therefore, very important.  The rest of it...I don't really need to know.  That's why I have a handy hubby and brother who is willing to fill in hubby's knowledge gaps.

So now that you know my personality this part will make more sense to you.  I believe the Bible is true from front to back.  I believe that, with the exception of parables and prophecy, it is literal.  Because I do not need to know the how's and why's of everything, my faith is easier.  This is great for me.  This is a problem for when I am sharing the Bible or my faith.  I cannot count the times that people have asked me "How?!"  and I don't have an answer because to be honest, I don't care how.  This is a major flaw that has recently come to my attention.  So my new goal is to learn.  While I personally do not require the knowledge of how God created the world in only seven days, or where dinosaurs went, others do.  And if I am to reach others I need to be able to give them more than my usual glib response of, "I don't know.  I just believe."  As a person who was raised in a faith filled home it's easy for me to say that God did it all and never question it but that isn't fair to those who do have questions. 
I have taken a few spiritual gift tests in my life and I know that preaching, missions and teaching are NOT areas in which I score highly.  I score very high in exhortation.  Yay.  Look up what exhortation and you will know why I am being sarcastic.  Exhorting a person doesn't usually endear a person to you.  Especially when your lowest scoring spiritual gift is Mercy so when exhorting someone you have to pretty much have to constantly be reminding yourself that God loves this person and so should I.  I firmly believe that people should cultivate their spiritual gifts because that is what God has given them and He obviously wants us to use them.  However, I also believe that the areas in which we are not gifted should be where we strive to grow.  This week I heard that "Conflict is the most profound crucible for change."-Nancy Ortberg.  That phrase applies to so many situations.  Conflict in a marriage can strengthen or beak that marriage.  Conflict in a friendship can completely turn that friendship on its head.  Conflict in our own lives can cause us to grow or stunt.  I do not like studying or learning things that are boring to me and this is obviously not something I am gifted in so it is a conflict to force myself to do that.  I also don't like preaching/testifying/Bible thumping, and obviously that is a conflict with what I believe God calls his followers to do.  I am hoping and praying that this conflict with bring about a change in me and, though I may never really understand why people need the answers and can't just believe, I at least will be able to share some answers to help lead them to Christ.