You Have Already Got The Gift

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
-Psalm 139:13-14, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Peter 1:3

God has deposited a gift within each person.  Our job is to unpack the gift of God within us.  Our quest is to develop our gifting. You have already got the gift, but you are waiting for something.  

Perhaps the enemy of your soul has been attacking you and sidetracking you, trying to destroy you right in the area of the gift God has already given you.  God's redemption is greater than the enemy's destruction.  When God recompenses you or restores you, he may even make you better than before you suffered loss, as in compensation for damages.

You are on a pilgrimage.  You are on a  journey.

You might be stuck.  But, God sends people into our lives to encourage us and walk beside us on our journey.

Along the way, we realize that God has already deposited the gift inside us and we need to develop and unpack it.  The Holy Spirit is with us to assist us in the process and God sends mentors and community to surround us and support us in our development.

This concept is reflected in Dewel Bunnel's lyric's for America's song, Tin Man:

But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn't, didn't already have
-Tin Man, by Dewey Bunnel

The so-called Wizard of Oz acted as a confirmer of the Tin Man's gift.  This fellow who wanted a heart already had one that he perhaps could not see.  I imagine that his caring and compassion were displayed again and again, during the journey.  He was actually the opposite of a heartless person!

This is how the dialogue went:

Wizard:  "As for you, my galvanized friend - you want a heart! You don't know how
lucky you are not to have one.  Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.

Tin Man:  "But I - I still want one."

Wizard:  "Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phil....er.....phil...er...er....good-deed-doers and their hearts are no bigger than yours, but they have one thing you haven't got! A testimonial! Therefore, in consideration of your kindness, I take pleasure at this time in presenting you with a small token of our esteem and affection. And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.

A few minutes later, this is said:

Dorothy:  "Oh, dear, that's too wonderful to be true! Oh, it's - it's going to be so hard to say goodbye. I love you all, too. Goodbye Tin Man. Oh, don't cry. You rust so dreadfully. Here, here's your oil can. Goodbye."

Tin Man:  "Now I know I've got a heart, 'cause it's breaking."

The whole journey has always been about being who God made you to be.  Be your self.  You have a special gift from God, that he put there.