They’re there. You want to push them away and pretend you
don’t constantly feel them. You can’t quite
seem to figure out why they won’t leave you, why you can’t stop them from happening. You make a lot of excuses for why you don’t
acknowledge their presence. But you can’t
deny them, even if you tried. These
feelings, these heart tugs, these constant nudging’s that won’t go away, want
you to finally surrender. Give up.
Put up your white flag. Answer
the call.
You’re scared. You
wonder if you’ve heard God correctly. You
don’t even know where to begin. To put
into motion all of these things He has laid so heavily on your heart. But you
want to. You want to be obedient,
willing.
Oh friend I have been there many times. I have felt the heart tugs, the Holy Spirit’s
constant nudging to obey the call He has given me. But fear gripped me. Satan’s lies about my inabilities and
unworthiness called louder than ever before.
I stood frozen, unsure of what to do next. Have you been there?
This past weekend I had the privilege of leading a breakout
session at our women’s event on calling and purpose. I titled our session, “I Feel Called…Now What?” because so often we feel a call that God
has laid on our hearts, but we aren’t sure what to do with it.
I want to take a few moments today to share some of the things
I’ve learned along the way to encourage you. Now hear me out, I’m no expert on this. I come from a place of
personal struggle on the topic and as I shared these resources with our group
on Saturday, I noticed it was something many of us deal with on some level.
Find a mentor.
Surround yourself with like-minded passion people. I know it sounds strange right? But that’s no typo. Look around you. Who is doing what you want
to be doing? Who can help you navigate
your calling?
Years ago I was with our Acteens group at a teen conference and
I spotted a fellow writer and blogger in the crowd whom I had long
admired. I waited around for the right
time to go up and introduce myself to her.
The opportunity finally presented itself and I briefly talked with her
about how much I enjoyed her blog and how her posts spoke to me. Then I confessed to her that I felt God calling
me to begin writing again and perhaps start a blog too. With excitement on her face she encouraged me
to go after that call, then gave me a few helpful startup tips.
I would never have expected it, but right then and there we
formed a relationship. Months later
after I had started blogging, she asked me to guest post on her blog. I was elated!
She introduced me to other writers with similar callings and I found
myself in the midst of a wonderful community of women who helped me flourish as
a new writer. In that season I was blessed with several new friendships and several mentors who helped me grow and have a better understanding of my calling.
Is there someone that can help you grow in your
calling? Is there someone who is already
doing (in some form) what you feel called to do? Someone you can look to as a
resource? If you don’t have this yet,
pray that The Lord will put these people in your path.
Some of my mentors have been in my life for a short time while we
worked on a project together. Some were my age, some older, some through an online
community. Mentors can come in a variety
of forms and seasons of life.
Let me also stress this: find a biblical mentor.
Someone who is in The Word and can speak encouragement and life to you
based on the foundation of God’s word. This
will help immensely as you figure out and pursue your calling.
Equip yourself.
Part of pursuing your calling involves knowing your
strengths and weaknesses. What are you
really good at or what have people told you are good at? Perhaps you are talented in music or making
things. Maybe you are a great writer,
teacher, or organizer. Maybe you are
someone who is great at recognizing other’s needs. If you're not sure, let me encourage you.
Grab a spare sheet of paper next to you and jot down 3-5 strengths
you have. It doesn’t have to be formal
or fancy. It can look like this:
Strengths I have:
1. ________________________
2. ________________________
3. ________________________
4. ________________________
5. ________________________
Now take a few minutes and think of 3-5 of your greatest
passions. These are the things that set
your heart ablaze. They give you those
heart tugs we talked about earlier. Serving,
human trafficking, children, discipleship, youth, music, missions. It can be anything.
My passions:
1.
__________________________
2.
___________________________
3.
___________________________
4.
___________________________
5.
___________________________
Take a look back over your lists. Do you see similarities? Do you see where some of your strengths
collide with your passions?
If you’ve never done so, I highly encourage taking a spiritual gifts test. Spiritual gifts are different in that they are gifted to us by God
when we become believers. The tests don’t
usually take a lot of time and can help guide you as you assess your strengths
and gifts.
Keep in mind. Passion is a
wonderful thing, but it must be met with skill and purpose. If I don’t put the work in and equip myself, I’m like an artist who wants to paint a picture but doesn’t know how to
hold her paint brush.
Equip
yourself and evaluate yourself. What areas do you excel at? What areas can you improve on? Ask yourself these questions often.
Attend conferences, training's, or read blogs that relate to your calling. If you want to run your own non-profit one day, you could take a class on obtaining a 501(c) (3) status or go observe other non-profit directors at work. Whatever this may look like for you, find those helpful resources, do your research, and prepare yourself as much as you can to serve in the way you desire to.
Gather your army.
A little backstory to share with you.
Before our women’s event this past weekend, I found myself full of
nervous energy. I was anxious of how
everything would turn out. I felt
prepared but also nervous about leading a breakout session and I just needed
someone to speak encouragement and pray over me. I texted my sister in law and told her how I
was feeling and asked for prayer. She not
only prayed for me, but shared some reaffirming words that my soul needed to
hear. She is in my army.
An army includes people who can pray specifically for you
and for your calling. It can be family
members, friends, church community, and mentors. It will look different for everyone.
These
are the people that help you, encourage you, and go to battle in prayer for
you.
Do you have people around you that lift you up? Pray for you?
Pray for your ministry? Do you
have people that help you with projects, events, etc. that are in this work
with you?
I know some of you
may be thinking, why do I need an
army? How can that really help me?
You need an army friend. Because there is a real live enemy out there waiting to derail you, waiting to
shift your focus off of God, off the Kingdom work He has called you to. He is ready and more than willing to
attack. Gather your army, your spiritual
army, and be ready to fight back.
Gathering your army is important because at some point, you’re
going to want to quit. You’re going to
want to throw in the towel and give up.
Your army can give you that encouragement to keep going and keep pursing
what God has called you to do.
It’s important to
have an army of believers around you, and it’s just as important to be in
someone else’s army. Be that person
who is praying for other ministries, other callings of the women around
you. If you haven’t experienced some of
these relationships yet, pray that God will reveal these people to you.
Stay disciplined.
I know
you've heard it before but it's worth mentioning over and over again. It’s
going to be very hard to pursue your calling in the fullest sense if you are
not in God’s word. As believers and followers of Christ, we need to be in
the Word of God. We need to continue to learn more about God and who He
is. We need to continually have a relationship with Him that includes
letting Him speak to us and through us from His Word. We also need to be able
to recognize Satan’s lies. We can only do that when we are grounded in
the foundation of God’s truth.
Some final thoughts on calling.
It’s not going to look like everyone else’s and often we
want so badly for it to. We want to
model our calling after what others have done or the ministry they have. And while many of us will share the same
passions and similar callings, each of us has a special calling that is unique
to the work God wants us to do.
Your calling will probably lead you to some scary, messy
places. But that is how we reach others
for the sake of The Gospel. At times it
will push you out of your comfort zone.
It will take you places you never imagined. Isn’t
that scary and beautiful all at the same time?
Pursuing your calling is a life-long process. God gives each of us purpose, but He will
continue to call us deeper in our relationship with Him.
Maybe for some of you, you aren't sure what God is calling you to do. Maybe for some of you something is holding you back from pursuing your calling. Don't worry friend. Keep being obedient, it will come in His timing.
Whatever stage you are in with your calling, I hope you are encouraged to keep going. I would like to end with three simple
questions that I think can help you no matter what stage you’re in with your
calling.
Reflect:
What’s
stopping me from pursuing my calling?
Respond:
I think God is calling me to:
Act:
One way I
can pursue my calling is:
So you feel called and you wonder, now what? Now my sweet friend, you begin. You take small steps. You reach out to someone, share your dream. You take a class, attend that conference or
retreat everyone is always raving about.
You center yourself on the foundation of God’s truth, His word.
You just start. It doesn’t
matter what you do really, just that you start. It’s not
going to be perfect and it’s not going to be easy. But you can trust that God is going to work
it all for good and for His purpose.
"And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28 (NIV)
