By Marilyn Bazett-Jones

We are fearfully and wonderfully made… I like to think on that verse and realize how God designed each of us with different gifts, yet all of us were made for serving Him.

We serve God by serving others. We usually know what our gifts are because He also gave us a passion to go along with them. It is natural to want to do these things.

Volunteering (serving) is good for us in many ways. It helps us feel socially connected, and reduces loneliness and depression. According to articles in Harvard Health Publications and The Huffington Post, the physical health benefits of volunteering include lower blood pressure, less stress, improved moods and longer lives. That’s because doing something for others releases endorphins – the same good feelings that come from exercise.

Isn’t it interesting how God designed serving to be intrinsically rewarding?

It’s interesting, too, that plants need water and sun, animals need plants, insects or other animals. Bees need the nectar in flowers, and the flowers need bees in order to bloom. Everything depends on something else. Babies need their parents, and when parents get old, they need their children to take care of them again. God obviously designed us to serve.

“Your spiritual gifts were not given for your own benefit but for the benefit of others, just as other people were given gifts for our benefit,” writes Rick Warren.

I often reflect on the different people that God has put in my life and the reasons they are there. It is no accident that God places me in certain roles and has me meet specific people. Some are there for me to help or influence, and others are there to help or influence me in some way. Of course, a lot of these relationships are mutually beneficial.

Even circumstances that seem like accidents can be used by God. So, if God made me for a purpose, planned my life around that, and never wastes anything, it’s amazing to think of how these events today are shaping my future.

To doubt our gifts or sit on our hands is to deprive someone else. That causes me to become more intentional about developing and sharing my gifts because I don’t want to leave a gift unopened, and I don't want anyone to miss out because of me.

Marilyn Bazett-Jones is a communications specialist at WEC Energy Group in Green Bay and the author of the newly published book "Life, Love and Loss."