262: The Hand You’re Dealt: Finding Purpose in the Chaos

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the "chaos and drama" of life, especially when the initial fire of the New Year begins to fade. In this solo Sunday episode, Kevin dives into an insightful teaching from Jim Ramos (Men in the Arena) to help listeners move past universal truths and discover their unique, God-given identity. Using this idea as a reference point, Kevin explores how our history, abilities, and passions aren't just random traits; they are tools meant to be used for a greater purpose. 

Big thank you to My Epic and Facedown Records for the use of their song "Hail" in our podcast!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz2RZThURTU&ab_channel=FacedownRecords

The Fire You Carry on YouTube.

Sign up for a class at The Fire Up Program!
https://www.fireupprogram.com/programs

The Fire Up Progam video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I__ErPW46Ec&t=12s&ab_channel=FireUpProgram

The Fire You Carry Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/thefireyoucarry/

Donate to The Fire Up Program.
https://www.fireupprogram.com/donate

The Fire Up Program Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/fireup_program/

Kevin's Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/kevinpwelsh/?hl=en

MyZone facility code for The Fire You Carry: CALIFUS001

Get $60 off a MZ-Switch Heart Rate Monitor!
https://buy.myzone.org/?lang=enUS&voucher=CALIFUS001-60

Transcript

Kevin (00:00.12)
solo. It's the end of the week. It's Sunday and we wanted to get something out. I really enjoy this email from Jim Ramos hits from men in the arena and I get them and they come often and he always has some very interesting things. Today I just kind of wanted to go over this with you is that there's he has a way of finding joy by understanding your purpose and I think that's interesting.

Because universally a lot of believers know some verses and he brings a bunch of them to start this email off that we can say truths from scripture about who you are in Christ. Like I am a child of God. I am saved by grace. I'm an heir of God. I am forgiven. I am a new creation. I am redeemed. I'm rescued from the darkness. I'm justified. I'm an overcomer. I am the salt of the earth. I am the light of the world.

And it goes on and on. I am chosen. I am loved. I am clean. And so these are really powerful scriptures that many of us know. And a lot of Jesus followers can say this, but we don't know universally like how we are uniquely. I mean, that's who you are universally, but who are you uniquely? You specifically. And when God made you like he broke the mold, you're one of a kind and

No one can be who you are or do what you do. And I think that's it's very interesting when you look at every single person that I've met, they're all very unique. And he has this quote in here. It says, what's in your hands in Exodus three? It's famously known as the story with, with Moses and the burning bush where God called Moses out of 40 years of obscurity to deliver to the Hebrews from the Pharaoh slavery.

Moses makes several excuses like we all would why he was not qualified. He's not the guy and God asked him, what's that in your hand? And today this is what Jim Rommel says is like, he's asking you the same question. What are your hands hold? What hand have you been dealt with? And if I'm honest, sometimes I think we got a bad hand or somebody said, this is just the hand that I've been dealt with. And that a lot of times become your identity and

Kevin (02:21.25)
To answer this question is the answer. The question is like, who am I? And he uses an acrimon called hands. It's your history, your abilities, your natural temperament and tendencies, your desires and your spiritual gifts. That's what's in your hand. That's who you are uniquely. And we can kind of go over these things. And I think it's interesting to talk about your history, your hand that you've been dealt with. God never wastes a hurt. I love the promise in Romans.

828 it says every believer should memorize it and we know and it says and we know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose. So I'm going to say this again. We know that God causes all things all things to work together for good. So we're currently in a war. We saw things that are going on in in Iran and things like that. And sometimes you question these things or cancer or

my friend's getting sick, but we know that God causes all things to work together for the good who loves, for those who love God. So we might not understand it, but these things are happening for a reason. And that hand you're dealt with, I think is meant to build your character so that you can help others. So let's go under A, abilities and talents. What can you do? Can you fashion metal? Can you catch fish? Can you craft things?

Can you play an instrument? Are you loud? Are you funny? Can you fix stuff? Can you make things grow? But great. These are all awesome. We should put these things to use for the glory of God. You're not too old. You're not too young and you just, he gave you these specific abilities, right? And talents for you to use. And I think that we shouldn't put a, we shouldn't put a cover on that lamp. It should shine and you should use your abilities and talents as much as you can.

for his purpose. All right. And in hands is natural temperament and tendencies. he writes here, human humanity is a kaleidoscope of temperaments. Simply summer, natural perfectionists. Some are naturally driven. Others are peaceful and go with the flow. Still others are social life of the party types. Some are energized based people are in summer drained. I'm definitely energized by people and my wife is drained, but I do like to

Kevin (04:49.516)
retreat to the cave from time to time. These are many options to help you understand which are you. There's the Myers-Briggs, the disc, the Florence literal personality. And he emphatically suggests that you discover yours. Like what is your natural temperament and tendencies? And then lean into that. That's who God made you. Some desires and passion. What's your passion? What ignites your fire? What is the fire you carry?

What causes you to soar? What cars your heartbeat with fury? Augustine is often quoted as saying love God and do as you wish. In other words, go all in for Jesus and follow your passions. The psalmist wrote, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of our heart. God will give you the desires of heart if you seek him and go with for it with undenying passion.

And your spiritual gifts is the last one. A spiritual gift is given by God after salvation. When you get saved, God throws a party and gives us spiritual gifts. So go online and take a you can go online and sometimes churches will attend one and say, what are the gifts? And you can join some of those groups and some of your spiritual gifts. So I just think this is an interesting thing. Five ways to find joy is look at the hand. It is so like

What is your history your hurts your habits your hang-ups? Maybe we lean into those and so they say those things are purposeful Then that God chose those things to be in your life so that maybe you can help others What are your abilities and talents? We all have very unique ones and are you using them? Are you using the talents that God gave you? What's your natural ten temperament and tendencies? And so maybe if you're not

the outgoing person and maybe you don't do that, but maybe you find whatever your natural temperament is and lean into that and your desires and passions. think oftentimes people forget about these things like what causes you to wake up, what causes you to get excited? And I think sometimes with work and marriage and kids, sometimes those things can take a back burner. But more recently, I've been definitely playing more music. It's been something that gives me joy.

Kevin (07:10.958)
And I feel like God has given me a talent for that. And it brings me around people, which I love. I'm going to do that more. Spiritual gifts is something that I'm still working on trying to figure out. And I think we all are right. And I think sometimes I can get excited and then sometimes I can get down. And so I'm using these, the I'm, leaning into trying to find out what the spiritual gifts that I've been given to see how I can help others go forward. So.

This is a short one. I just wanted to throw those out there of five ways of finding joy. think after the beginning of the year, it was like new year and knew me and there were so many great things happening. And then all of a sudden we got down from the fire program and it seemed like the world was on us. there was just a lot of chaos and drama and sickness and, it was hard. I'm trying to get back to the basics of breathing, praying.

exercising, getting in the word, spending time with friends and family, playing music, doing things that I'm passionate about. yesterday we just went to the beach. took all the kids and we just went to the beach and just spending some time in the water and with this beautiful sunshine. It was what I needed. And so I think that's, some of the things that I find joy in and I'm going to try to itemize those, schedule them and make it part of my daily routine because we need to do these things.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed that. It's a short one and we'll see you next time. This has been the FireUKerry Podcast.