God ordained gifts: Lauren

Shalom beloveds

For our first blog feature, we have the phenomenal Lauren Jacobs. There just aren’t enough words to describe this warrior of a woman! She is altogether fierce and gentle, but a force to be reckoned with. I spoke to Lauren on the topic of ‘God ordained gifts’.  She also shares about her own God ordained gifts. I met Lauren through a friend in 2019, and over time we started to get to know one another through mutual gatherings. She’s such an amazing human being and a brilliant woman of God. She guides and teaches women on how to stand tall in their God-given identity and calling. She oozes that same passion through her writing, teachings, and her entire aura. She simply walks into a room and every person in it can sense her boldness. I absolutely love this about her. She’s traveled to many places around the world as well as ministered to people and counselled many women. I’m very excited to share her thoughts and opinions on the topic of ‘God ordained gifts’. Let’s dive in…

Please give us a short introduction to who you are and what you do?

 My name is Lauren; I am a theologian, author, radio journalist and a storyteller.

What is your God ordained gift and how did you discover them? 

I have a number of God given gifts I have discovered through the years, but I would like to focus on what I have learnt about writing. From the age of 5, I had been writing in a basic journal where I wrote about everyday life in the simplest of ways. Throughout my primary school phase, my diaries deepened and I wrote a lot of stories which mirrored my experiences on my home life, I communicated my feelings and hardships through writing. In high school, one of my English teachers noticed my gift of writing and helped me get an A, so I could enter university and pursue a degree in English in 2004. But it wasn’t until 2011 that I heard God speak to me so clearly about my calling to be a writer. It was very prophetic, direct and specific. That year I started writing essays, articles and poems and my work got published by magazines, journals and online. That was where my journey began.

What are the highlights or victories you have achieved through your gift? 

I experienced my first year of 2011 as a year of writing I will not forget. It was the beginning of my journey and God really opened so many doors for me. With any journalism or writing career, experience matters and counts most of all. So getting articles published were victories I never expected. I wrote, submitted where God led me to and saw articles come out sometimes on a weekly basis. I was even paid for a large number of my articles and that is a big deal for a young journalist. Throughout the years, God has really blessed me to now write books, which I never thought I would do. My books have all won awards, and most of all I have been super blessed to hear testimonies of lives changed through the written words God has given me. The other big victories or highlights for me have been creating awareness on issues relating to women, which is always important to me. I have written, researched and worked in the field to get the stories of women and to tell those stories. I have written on numerous topics which God led me to write about, like female ritual servitude, gendercide, gender inequalities and domestic violence to name a few. All of these are highlights because they make a difference!

What are the challenges you face or have faced with your gift?

There will always be challenges, and they look different for everyone and in every season. New challenges arise in every season. At the beginning of writing in 2011, it seemed a bit easier to just write and publish. Now as I fulfill different roles in my life, my challenge is time. Writing takes time and for me personally I need to be in a quiet space to write and think clearly, as a working adult (not a student anymore!). I find time a big problem, and also the other aspects of writing books is marketing, and sharing your work, I still find that a struggle as I am not a marketer by nature. The enemy also attacks your with self–doubt, external voices and pressure – but bringing that all to God is what makes the difference.

What advice can you give to others in pursuing their own God ordained gifts?

Live surrendered. Do not desire someone else’s calling or gifting. Write authentically, and write what God tells you to write. I am passionate about women’s history, and women’s experiences from Biblical times through to the modern world, so that is what my writing focuses on. For someone else their writing work needs to focus on something else. Recently, I met a science writer – personally I cannot think of anything more boring than science, but that’s because it’s not my calling. So they have to write about science issues, which is phenomenal! This means stay true to you. Also, let go of your definition of success and this one hurts a lot! Because the world tells you what success should look like, but God’s view of success is very different. God is interested in lives changed and touched, and that needs to be the goal always. Live humbly and walk up rightly, hold life loosely, serve God and allow Him to do the rest!

To learn more about Lauren Jacobs and her work, click on the following links:

Website www.laurenjacobs.co.za 

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lauren_jacobs_author/

Thank you for reading, till next time…

Peace and blessings in Yeshua!

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