A 7 Year Old Surgeon?

He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands (Psalm 78:72).

In 2000, video footage emerged from a remote village in India, making headlines around the world. A young girl was receiving surgery to separate her fingers, which had been badly burned and fused together in a tight fist. The surgeon was a 7 year old boy named Akrit Jaswal.

Akrit developed a passion for science and anatomy at an early age. At an age when most children are learning their ABCs, Akrit was reading Shakespeare and assembling a library of medical textbooks.

When the girl’s impoverished family, who could not afford a doctor, heard about his amazing abilities, they asked if he would operate on their daughter for free.

Akrit had no formal medical training and no experience of surgery, yet he managed to free the girl’s fingers and she was able to use her hand again. The surgery was a success.

Akrit went on to become the youngest student ever to attend an Indian university and is currently working toward bachelor's degrees in zoology, botany and chemistry.

Nancy Yi Fan moved to the United States from Beijing when she was 7 years old. She couldn’t speak a word of English. Determined, Nancy taught herself the language by reading lots of books.

When she was 11 years old, Nancy began writing her first fantasy novel, Swordbird. A year later, she emailed her manuscript to the CEO of Harper Collins. Her book was accepted for publication and flew to the top of the New York Times best-seller list. At age 13, Nancy became the youngest best-selling author in Harper Collins history. Her book is sold all over the world.

Nancy has subsequently released two follow up novels and is a freshman at Harvard University.

Akrit and Nancy tapped into the next key to knowing the truth about who you are: knowing your talents.

Your talents are your natural abilities – the things that come easily to you without being taught.

You have the greatest potential for growth in the area of your natural gifting.

Teaching and training in your area of talent simply hones your natural ability, taking it to higher levels. The 2 young people above didn't go to University to gain totally new skills – they went to University to develop their already identified abilities.

To tap into the power of living on purpose, you need to identify your God-given strengths. Then work on increasing your capacity.

A good way of identifying your talents is to pay attention to what other people say about you. Our friends and family can often see in us what we can’t see in ourselves. Think about the things you do naturally that others say "I wish I could do that _____ (fill in the blank), as well as you do" and you say "it’s no big deal, it was nothing, etc..."

In what areas are people always coming to ask you for help?

Read StrengthsFinder2.0 or Now, Discover Your Strengths. Each copy of the books contains a unique access code to allow you to take the Gallup online assessment.  Alternatively, you can buy an access code at www.strengthstest.com. 

There are also many free resources available on Web to help you discover your talent.

Learn more about developing an empowering belief system in the next post.