One of the best pieces of advice I ever got

Around 3 years into my life as a believer, I wanted nothing more than to grow closer to God. I was trying to figure out how to live like a Christian and how to have a strong bond with God.

One day, I had an eye-opening chat over coffee with a woman from church. I admired a lot her a lot because she was deeply connected to God. That lady operated in every gift of the Spirit there I knew of, and God spoke to her on a daily basis.

I asked her how I could get that close to God. She told me that it starts with getting to know myself. She suggested I should learn more about my personality and ask God to reveal things about myself.

This surprised me a lot! Up to that point, I always thought that being a Christian means always thinking about others and never about myself. I believed the lie that thinking about myself would make me self-centered. But there I was, sitting across that remarkable woman of God who didn’t seem to be self-absorbed at all.

Back home, I decided to follow her advice. I asked God to help me to get to know myself. Little did I know that this was the starting point of an amazing journey.

I found out that I’m highly sensitive. Those people have a more sensitive nervous system and process things more deeply and thoroughly than others. Being highly sensitive is not a sickness or illness, but a natural trait found in 15-20% of the population. I write more about it here: The highly sensitive person

In light of being highly sensitive, I brought my past, my experiences, and the way I perceive things before God. It changed my life.

Further, the Holy Spirit led me to research personality assessments. I grew particularly fond of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the enneagram. Again, finding my type was a huge revelation for me, as it explained some of my past and present struggles (even though it took years to discover my true types). I write more about personality tests here: How personality tests increased my love for others and myself

Over time God showed me more of my strengths, talents, and my weaknesses as well. I read about spiritual gifts and God provided guidance to develop them. He also used different people and many situations to reveal things about myself.

This whole process didn’t make me self-centered but drew me closer to God. The more I got to know myself, the more I started understanding other people better.

Learning about myself while being in constant conversation with God changed everything for me. It set the course of my life, my relationships, and my career. 

Over 7 years have passed since my coffee chat with that woman from church. To this day, this was one of the most valuable pieces of advice I ever got. And since following her advice transformed my life, I’m telling you the same today:

If you’d like to grow closer to God, get to know yourself. Pray and ask him to lead and guide you on this journey of finding your unique personality traits as well as your gifts and strengths. 

Read more

Your perception of God determines how you live your life

10 things only highly sensitive Christians will understand

How God showed me my talents

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