Creative juices

As must be the case for any aspiring writer, I have spent countless hours trying to hone my "skill"--reading countless articles and stories and trying to mimic the different styles in my own creations. But recently I have wondered whether I have any gift at all.
I also wonder that, if I was given a gift, is there anything I could have done to lose it? Is it one of those things that is around only temporarily, only to leave me at the first instance it is ignored? Have I lost the message that God intended for me to deliver?
The answer to those questions, like most others, escapes me. Perhaps I have hit a lull in my creative cycle; perhaps I bitch and moan too much. Whatever the case, I guess the point is to constantly be using your gift, don't ignore it and allow its muscle to deterioriate in the confines of indifference.
Some say suffering comes with the territory.
Like Hemingway said, "We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously."