S.H.A.P.E. Assessment Results

Thank you Breeann Adam for taking the SHAPE Assessment. We encourage you to meet with a Church Leader that you respect, to go over your results, so that they can help you discover a place to serve in the church and/or community, and also to help you fine-tune your 5 Main Focuses/Priorities listed at the bottom of this email under the ‘Wrapping it up’ section. May God Bless You!

[S]piritual Gifts

Here is how your spiritual gifts scored:

50%

21%

62%

68%

62%

18%

25%

62%

37%

To see descriptions on the Spiritual Gifts and how you can use them to further Christ’s Kingdom on earth, visit this link.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
About 8 years ago, I was in college and making about $400 a month working at the college computer lab. As a kid, I had been the “piggy bank hoarder” and Halloween candy hider. Not all that generous, to say the least. At this time in college, I don’t remember how it came about exactly, but I got the message that I was supposed to start sponsoring a child from Compassion International. This was about $45 dollars a month – which seemed like a lot when I was making $400 or less! But, I remember finding a child on their website who was 19 years old and had a disabilities. He was an adult, really, but still under compassion’s care due to his disabilities. I was only a bit older than he was and going to college for a degree in Special Education and had worked with kids with disabilities for years. It turned out to be a lot easier of a choice than I thought it would be. This was 8 years ago, and since then my heart for giving money has basically exploded and I do not have even anything resembling an iron fist on my money. When my husband I got married, we agreed to start a “tithe/giving” account. It’s a separate bank account that money goes into every month that we can give away as needs arise. Sometimes it has more money in it than our regular bank account, haha, but that hasn’t bothered me a bit. I love being able to see a need, give to help, and not feel anxious or stingy about it.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I don’t know why I have this gift exactly. I know it’s something I’ve been told by friends for years that I have. My mom has this gift in abundance, so I would imagine that’s where I got it. She’s an eternal optimist and believes in and accepts everyone. I also teach Special Education, and 99% of this job is encouraging, cheerleading, pushing, and believing in these kids as much as possible, even when evidence or circumstance or history shows you should just give up.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
Again, my mom shows this trait infinitely, so I’m sure that’s where it started. She can’t and won’t hold a grudge. For me, daily when working with special needs teenagers, many of whom have emotional or “invisible” disabilities, my patience is tested a billion times to the highest intensity. They say and do things that if we, the staff, were to hang on to or not forgive, we could never show up to work again t he next day. Mercy is the name of the game. If they walk away from my classroom with any memory of me and the staff, I want it to be that we relentlessly loved them and believed in them and they couldn’t push us away no matter how hard they tried at the time.

[H]eart

1. I love to workout and do CrossFit with my “gym family.”

2. I love to read, learn from others’ stories, and write.

3. I love to be with family, my husband, my dog, and my work family.

I really, really, really, love kids with disabilities, which has led to my life’s work. I also love adults with disabilities, but don’t get to work with them as much any more. I also love middle school students in general. They are quirky, funny, and don’t have much of a filter. They are figuring things out in the most awkward of ways, and I just can’t get enough (*well, most of time).

Foster/adoption ministries, ministries for special needs children and adults

Educational
At-risk children
Disabilities
Other – women in ministry and leadership

[A]bilities

Middle School Special Education teacher

Group home staff for children with disabilities, camp counselor (kids, teens, at-risk youth),

writing, organizational tasks, social media addict, health/wellness interests, people with special needs, listening, being patient

Middle School special ed. classes (recurring theme :)), outdoors/backpacking/Bible to groups of middle school students at a church camp

Patience. It takes the earth moving to rattle me (most days).

[P]ersonality

Reserved

Low Risk

50-50 Peace Maker/Challenger

50-50 People/Project Driven

50-50 Follower/Leader

Solo

Routine

Your Primary was ‘The Lion’, with your Secondary coming in as ‘The Retriever’, and here are the descriptions of your Personalities, and how they can be used for God

Lion- This personality likes to lead. The lion is good at making decisions and is very goal-oriented. They enjoy challenges, difficult assignments, and opportunity for advancement. Because lions are thinking of the goal, they can step on people to reach it. Lions can be very aggressive and competitive. Lions must learn not to be too bossy or to take charge in other’s affairs.

Strength: Goal-oriented, strong, direct
Weakness: Argumentative, too dictatorial
Limitation: Doesn’t understand that directness can hurt others, hard time expressing grace

Golden Retriever- Good at making friends. Very loyal. Retriever personalities do not like big changes. They look for security. Can be very sensitive. Very caring. Has deep relationships, but usually only a couple of close friends. Wants to be loved by everyone. Looks for appreciation. Works best in a limited situation with a steady work pattern.

Strength: Accommodating, calm, affirming
Weakness: Indecisive, indifferent, unable to express emotional, too soft on other people
Limitation: Seeing the need to be more assertive, holding others accountable

[E]xperience

I was born into a Christian family, went to a Christian school, and always was involved in some sort of church or church activity.

Faith Chapel Billings, Nursery, 2004-2008, off and on throughout high school

Christikon Lutheran Church Camp, 2011-2016, most summers, counselor for kids, teens, at-risk youth, and adults with disabilities

Outdoor Life Ministries, 2015-2016; various roles

Having a supportive, loving, caring family who wasn’t perfect but who I never doubted their love for me

meeting and marrying my husband, Troy

working with kids with disabilities

a negative church break up that was hurtful. This led to feeling like an outsider in my own faith and feeling disillusioned with my Christian faith (still working hard through this).

growing up in a low-income family that experienced a lot of financial challenges for many, many years

having close family members struggle with substance abuse, dropping out of school, and experiencing serious illness (basically watching immediate family go through very hard things, either due to poor choices or poor luck)

Wrapping It Up

The Challenge: Based upon your S.H.A.P.E. Assessment above (the way God wired you), If you knew you couldn’t fail … and ‘lack of money, or time’ was not an obstacle… list your Top 3 Things you would ‘Focus’ your Life on, next to #1 Loving God & #2 Loving Your Neighbor (these would be your ‘3 God-Sized Dreams’ for your life)?

1. My Relationship with GOD

2. My Relationship with Others

• Putting Your Spouse First
• Your Kids Second
• Everyone Else After those

3. writing a book (Christian living/experiences)

4. Foster/adoptive care

5. finding or creating more ways to help those w/ disabilities in faith-based ways