Diana Romero, CEO, Integrated Purpose Management LLC, encourages all of us to become friendly with ourselves and put in the time to really learn about the unique strengths God has placed in each of us.

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Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.

Matthew 5:14 (MSG)

What does it meant to tap into something? To tap into something simply means to become friendly with, know or understand. To live the life God has created us for, we should each take time to fully understand and know ourselves; to become friendly with ourselves. Do you know people that just seem to dislike themselves? It is sad to see them always putting themselves down or not believing in the special person God has created them to be. We each have gifts, talents and strengths that God has given to just us.

Philippians 2:13 (AMP) tells us, “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure.”

We are each uniquely made. Keith Craft states in his book, Your Divine Fingerprint, The Force that Makes YOU Unstoppable, “Your talents are gifts from God that, when developed, show the world a part of God that has never been seen before.”

I like to think of it like the facets of a diamond. (What girl doesn’t love diamonds?!) We are each created to shine for God in a unique way that no one else can do. A good quality diamond has many facets and each facet reflects light in a special way. God has created us to give a special sparkle to the world.

So how can we tap into our sparkle? How can we discover our gifts, talents, and strengths?

Journaling is a great tool for self-discovery

Journaling is a great way to reflect about the things that impact our lives; things that we are struggling with and those things that bring us delight and joy. Journaling can help you see patterns in your life, natural threads that keep showing up to reveal who you are. I have been journaling for over 30 years. I still have most of my journals. It is not unusual for me to go back and look through them to look for a pattern. One pattern about myself that I have learned is that I love to dive deep into the Word. I like to go down to the original meaning of words, look for patterns and ask God to reveal His mysteries to me. One of my “I am” statements is, “I am a student of Biblical Mystery. I love to study God’s Word and discover the mysteries hidden in its passages.” 

“I am” statements also help us discover gifts, talents and strengths. As you are journaling, take some time and write down some “I am” statements. (To give credit where credit is due, I learned about “I am” statements from Keith Craft in the book mentioned above.)

Some examples of some of my personal “I am” statements are:

• I am a problem solver. I reveal strategy and plans to accomplish big goals.
• I am resilient. I have had some big losses in my past, but I did not allow them to stop me from living and moving forward.
• I am a bridge builder. I seek to bring peace into unsettling situations. I help reach across valleys to provide opposing mindsets common ground.

Another way of helping us know ourselves is having a mentor. 

A mentor can give us a perspective from someone outside our family and friends. A mentor often has experience and expertise in an area the mentee is seeking to know and understand better. However, in these relationships so much more is uncovered. It is like getting an experienced guide to take you on trip into some caves and in the process discovering deposits of gold. If we are open and transparent, we can discover some of our most valuable gifts, talents and strengths through these relationships.

4word has an exceptional mentoring program. I have been both a mentor and mentee in the program and each session has been very special to me. I have been stretched and I have been awed by how God has shown up for me and for my mentoring pair. The leaders of the mentor program pray over the mentoring pairs before they are assigned. I believe each one is God ordained. If you haven’t already, you should tap into the 4word Mentor Program.

Finally taking assessments can help us know ourselves or provide confirmations to what we believed to be true.

There are many different assessments out there that can give us insights to our strengths, personality, our temperaments, our communication style, emotional social-intelligence, and the list can keep going. Some examples are Cliftons StrengthsFinder, DiSC©, Myers-Briggs MTBI®, Life Languages^TM Communication IQ^TM, and EQ-I 2.0®. With all of these examples, how do we decide which ones to use? There isn’t really a right or wrong answer. Each assessment gives insight. We can take all the input and see where there is commonality. We ask ourselves, “does this ring true with me?” I have taken a number of them and the information I have received often has confirmed what I already felt was true and some of them gave me pause to ponder aspects of myself that might be true, but I had not tapped into them yet. They give us a way to potentially see ourselves and others in a different light than we have before. 

Some of my favorites are Myers-Briggs MTBI®, Life Languages^TM Communication IQ^TM and Clifton StrengthsFinder.

First, Myers-Briggs MTBI® because it was one of the first assessments I ever took as a young professional and it helped me understand my introverted self; which I worked on over my career to overcome fears of not speaking up if I believed I had something valuable to say. Second, Life Languages^TM Communication IQ^TM because I value people, and effective communication is the foundation to building lasting relationships whether at home or at work. And because it is Biblically based which is important to me. Lastly, Clifton StrengthsFinder because I believe our talents are God given and if tapped into can become the strengths that empower us to become exactly the person God purposed us to be.

Remember you have a special God given sparkle that is unique to you that shines into the world.

Diana is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Purpose Management (IPM) LLC, a family owned and operated company. IPM enables you to realize your integrated purpose by providing business management expertise to grow your business, professional coaching to elevate you to your full potential and understanding in communication intelligences to cultivate your professional and personal relationships.

Diana hosts a podcast called The Integrated Life where she encourages her listeners to have a life where they integrate their faith, family and work so they can become whole again. She has a bachelor of science degree in Biology with minor in Chemistry from the University of North Texas and an Executive MBA from Texas A&M, Mays Business School. Diana has over thirty years of experience in the medical device industry with 30 of those years spent at Abbott. She has served in the areas of project/program management, research and development, global quality assurance, regulatory affairs/compliance and executive management.

Diana is a certified Communication IQ^TM consultant for Life Languages International^TM. Diana is a member of the 4word Women Advisory Board and is a servant leader at Elevate Life Church. She is married and has one daughter.