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

Thank you Holly Mehl 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 (in alphabetical order):

21%

21%

34%

40%

40%

31%

18%

56%

28%

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:
I usually do things if I’m asked, even if I don’t really want to do it. Not totally wild about being a greeter or usher but it is something Ken asked me to do, so I said yes. Same with the Discipleship thing. I’m not enthusiastic about it but if I am helpful somehow in it, then I’m willing to try it. I’m not usually one to offer to help, but I can if asked. Mainly I serve in church because I want the church to succeed. I don’t really think I have spiritual gifts to share but I think that could change over time.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I am able to give so I do. Giving helps me feel better about a failing world. I give to church, environmental organizations, and sometimes to disease research. Again, I want to give to the church because I like church and I want it to succeed.

This gift’s evident in my life in the following ways:
I am an empathetic person and feel badly for people, animals and ecosystems that suffer. I try to do something about these problems, including prayer.

[H]eart

1. Spending time with my family, in particular Delaney.

2. Spending time in nature, in particular these days out on my land. I go there whenever I can. As Delaney gets older, I’ve had more time to get out there and work on projects like eradicating invasive species and building stuff in my cabin. When I’m not out there doing it, I’m usually thinking about the next thing I want to do out there.

3. Travelling and seeing new places with Jim and going to concerts and enjoying music with him.

Kids. I enjoy spending time with my Little Nehya, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. She’s such an awesome kid. It’s neat to see her grow up and learn about life and watch her decide how and who she wants to be.

I wish our church could be involved in environmental issues that matter, to show we love the Creation and want to protect it.

Parenting
Poverty/hunger
At-risk children
Other – Earth

[A]bilities

Ecologist/GIS (mapping) technician at EPA

Stream sampling (biology, chemistry, physical habitat of aquatic environments)

writing, presenting, performing (music)

Ecology at work, Human Ecology at Baker University, Biology labs at KU

I can talk to people. Not afraid of people to speaking my mind. Not always a good thing, I’ve found, but could be channeled appropriately.

[P]ersonality

Extrovert

50-50 High/Low Risk

50-50 Peace Maker/Challenger

Project Driven

Follower

50-50 Routine/Variety

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

Was raised to be. Became stronger over time and really felt God’s presence at times so I felt motivated to grow in Christ.

Blue River Cleanup volunteer coordinator for CCUMC almost 10 years, after Mrs. Montello couldn’t do it anymore.

Christmas In October (fixing up poor peoples’ houses) volunteer coordinator for CCUMC for 3 years until I didn’t want to do it anymore because it was hard to get people interested.

Camping every summer as a kid. Made me love nature.

Studied biological and environmental sciences through Master’s. Made me want to be an environmentalist.

Foreign exchange student and German language studies overseas for 2 years of my life. Made me love diversity and learning about the world and made me love world travel.

First time I tried master’s program was right after undergrad and I wasn’t ready. I dropped out because I wasn’t mature enough to be a professional student. They wanted too much from me and I wasn’t ready. I felt I failed but it turned out to be a better decision for me. Helped me to know how everyone is different and needs to go their own path and listen to God in trying to find own path.

Got fired from a contract position that I wasn’t really good for. Felt extremely hurt but it ended up being a Godsend because many doors opened after that which led me down my right path.

I went through a very bad time of anxiety for about a year in my early 30s where I was basically a terrible hypochondriac… I thought I had diseases and put my parents through hell trying to help me. I was panicked and that’s when we figured out I needed anxiety meds. Been fine since. It’s a longer story than that but it hinged from me being so afraid that I would never have a child. In retrospect it was a great experience because my parents were so steadfast in being there for me, they were the most amazing examples of good parents, especially my mom. I was healed in combination through prayer, my mom, from getting pregnant with Delaney, and a little bit of Zoloft. ha. I never had problems with being a hypochondriac after Delaney was born. I just really wanted that child!!! Thank you God.

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. Help bring about a reverse of global warming where CO2 concentrations actually started going down.

4. Help Nehya Ramsey, my Little, make it through college and into a successful career. Not even one person in her entire family ever even graduated high school. My goal is for that girl to make it in life.

5. Restore my land to being a safe haven for wildlife. I’ve had all natives planted but it is a work in progress. To see pollinators, rare grassland birds and an increase in bobwhite quail would show this has happened. My land is in a very impacted area that was historically prairie.