On Being Generous With Our Skills and Talents: A Guest Post by Amy L. Sullivan (and a GIVEAWAY!)



There are those who dream and those who do.  Amy L. Sullivan is an amazing woman who combined the two and through it a book was born.  Amy hits it out of the park with her families' real and often humorous journey from having a life filled with stuff to having a life filled with purpose.  In a warm and conversational style, Amy provides practical tools to get your family moving toward a lifestyle of generosity and service.  It is rich with story, interactive tools and useful resources.  The book is uplifting and inspiring without an ounce of guilt pushed our way.  Amy will inform your mind, touch your spirit, inspire your soul and ready your heart to go forth and love in greater ways than you may have imagined.

I am pleased and honored to welcome Amy as she shares on one way to be generous here today:  


On Being Generous With Our Skills and Talents: A Guest Post by Amy L. Sullivan

In What I Wish For You, Amy D. McCraken tells the story of her young son’s struggle to come up with a career. After much worry and deliberation, he decides he will work as a dunk tank clown in the summer and the innocent guy in police line-ups in the winter.

Brilliant.

His mom, Amy, rests in the knowledge that her young boy already embraces the person he is going to be, smart, creative, and wildly funny.

This story reminds me to stop striving and start embracing.

I work, struggle, hone my skills, and tweak my talents all in attempt to become who I was made to be. Meanwhile, the girl in the mirror stares hard and wonders when I will stop spinning and just embrace the terrible car singer, loud belly laugher, endless word miner I already am.

Recently, I wrote a book about loving others better.  http://www.amazon.com/When-More-Not-Enough-Giving/dp/1941103243


In the book, I explore the idea of being generous with prayer, time, strangers, talents, and forgiveness.

One of my favorite chapters is the chapter about being generous with our skills and talents.  It is my favorite because it is difficult for me to acknowledge my talents. What? Who me? I have talents? You don’t say?

I have a hunch, acknowledging your talents may be a struggle for you too, but I will tell you, you have major talent. It’s a fact. Yes, you do.

Here’s an excerpt:

Look in the mirror. You possess ease in handling conflict. You excel in the kitchen. Some stare at a pile of junk mail and see a mess; you stare at the pile and an organization system forms in your head. Maybe you paint walls, or maybe you paint canvas. Others may look at a baseball team of ten-year –olds and see a headache; you look at them and see raw talent. The areas you enjoy are often the areas in which you excel.

It’s easy for us to see unique skills and talents ooze from our friends, but to acknowledge we posses talent is much more difficult, and when it comes to sharing our talents with others, we often shake our heads and quickly dismiss the gifts God gave us.

Let’s work to battle that.

Let’s start today.

Let’s acknowledge our talents because there is someone out there waiting to be blessed by the very skill we possess (and yes, I am talking about you and your mad enchilada making skills!).

Your turn: Tell me about one of your skills or talents. Go ahead, it’s not bragging.

~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~    ~  

Because I am so excited about this book, I am going to give away a copy to one of you!  To enter just comment below and share with us about one of your skills or talents.  Giveaway will end September 30th.  

I must also mention that this gal puts here money where her heart is and because of that Amy is contributing ALL of her portion of profits from the sales of this book to Transformation Village which provides housing and job training programs for single women, women veterans, mothers with children and intact families in crisis in Amy's home state of North Carolina.   




For the past two years, Amy L. Sullivan looked harder, loved stronger, and discovered more by fixing her gaze on something other than the person staring back at her in the mirror.  Amy writes for oodles of print and online publications and loves speaking with groups of any size.  Connect with her online at AmyLSullivan.com     




   
 

Share:

11 comments

  1. Amy... Looks like a great book... Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carey,
      Thanks for reading about the book and taking the time to comment!

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a wonderful book that I would enjoy. My husband teases me that older folks (older than me at 57) like me and readily talk to me in stores, etc. I will never forget an elderly lady who had written her grocery list in pencil and then was unable to "see" it in the store. She asked me to read it to her and "OLEO" was on the list!!! Long time since I've heard it called Oleo!
    All the best with your book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the good wishes, and I'm not going to lie, I just had to look up "OLEO"! Good thing the lady didn't ask me!

      Delete
  3. Sounds like a good book with a much needed message.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading about the book, Amy! I pray it encourages families.

      Delete
  4. Thank you so much for introducing Amy to us, Mindy!
    I love your message, Amy, and living a purposeful life is something I'm always striving towards. Unfortunately, I seem to have a lot of detours along the way but I'll keep trucking.
    I have been told that my positive outlook and spirit have made a difference to others. Just yesterday my cousin asked me how I handle a day when I wake up angry at the world. I thought for a minute and I couldn't honestly recall ever feeling that way. It struck me at that moment that I'm very fortunate. I've been able to laugh and comfort others in some pretty difficult times and I'm thankful for that.
    And yes, this was difficult to write - but I'm very glad I did! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mindy, what a lovely post honoring Amy and her book. This book sounds very exciting! Such love and compassion Amy has. My heart is blessed.
    I have a passion for the elderly and would make changes in my own life just to be available for their needs, and they can have many needs, some as simple as a visit to share a cup of tea and fellowship.
    Amy is quite the testimony of the love of God in her life.
    Sweet blessing to you both.
    A beautiful give away you have here, so very kind of you both.
    Joy to you! Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the vision of the ministry you are supporting. A friend and I are co-directors of a ministry for young women called The Push Ahead. I know it has been a gift from God to me and I think he has been preparing me for it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Mindy! Phew! Just got back from blog-break in enough time to enter the giveaway. This book sounds wonderful. I can really relate to the wondering when to stop spinning and embrace who I am. You know, 'more' isn't always better. Being joyful, that's the key.

    I LOVED the concept of being the innocent guy in the line-up. That really tickled me!
    Blessings,
    Ceil

    ReplyDelete
  8. This sounds like an awesome book! I love being encouraging to others.Sometimes all someone needs is a smile or just a few words to uplift them for the day. A lot of times something so small can make a huge difference.

    ReplyDelete