I have recently started to make a concerted effort to organize my life. For quite some time, my home had a somewhat of a haphazard order to it. It wasn't dirty. It was just cluttered. Likewise, my study habits were sufficient, yet they were often hurried and stressful. And finally, my eating habits were horrendous.
As I am beginning to give order to my external environment, I am finding that it is easier to focus on my spiritual life. Unsurprisingly, my spiritual life is in much the same shape that my physical environment has been. I am spiritually dusty. My spiritual gifts have been put on the shelf, and I haven't exercised them in a church setting since about 2009.
I remember telling a good friend of mine that I just needed to take some time to be selfish. This was the time that I spent in the proverbial desert. I needed to figure out what my purpose in life was, and I knew that I personally could not do so while distracted by the busyness that often accompanies youth leadership.
After I stepped down from my youth leadership role at Christian Life Cathedral, life didn't get easier. I was being spiritually refined. I found that stresses at work began to consume me. After about two years, I was completely burned to a crisp, and I knew that I had to change professions. In hindsight, I recognize that God was telling me to pursue a profession that allowed me to utilize my spiritual gifts of discernment, healing, wisdom, and knowledge.
Could you please pray that I will be able to keep up the momentum throughout the stressful times in my life? Stressful times such as finals week and heavy caseloads have de-railed me in the past. I recognize that living the healthy lifestyle that I have described is the only way that I will be able to achieve my short and long term goals.
My current life goals in no particular order are to:
Finish my Master of Social Work program (and possibly my Doctor of Social Work)
Find a fulfilling career that will allow me to utilize all of my spiritual gifts
Find a body of believers that I can meet with regularly
Get my weight back down to 185 lbs. (My high-school weight)
-David Rivera
