Your Glorious Calling Awaits

What would you do if money was of no concern? 

Someone asked me this question and I honestly could not answer. It has been such a long time since I had allowed myself to dream possibilities that I had not even considered longings that I had buried under the weight of responsibility. Since becoming a single mom at a young age, I had never done anything outside of what I needed to survive. Even worse, I had attempted to twist my work into my calling because the longing for more kept rising to the surface, but it was not working. 

But, one day, in a moment of radical faith, after a demotion in my 18-year career that forced me to admit my work would never fulfill the hole in my heart, I signed up for a Christian women's writing conference on the other side of the country. 

Several months and a trepidatious airplane ride from Denver to North Carolina later, where I continually had to bank down the thoughts that I had made a terrible mistake, I found myself in a hotel ballroom with 800 other women who felt the same call from God. Instead of feeling competitive or out of place, despite not having had anything published at that point, I felt even more convicted. I was exactly where I was supposed to be and I felt more confident that I was called to write for God than ever before.

Until now, I tried to tamp down the feeling that I was created for a special purpose. It seemed ridiculous and arrogant to think God had given me special gifts and called me to do something special with those gifts. But my restless feeling drove my searching. Then, Like a shaken soda, it bubbled and fizzed out as I loosened the cap I had tightly shut, due to fear and wrong beliefs. And once it was opened, I found the glorious life that Paul wrote about from prison. This life has nothing to do with current circumstances and everything to do with finding and faithfully believing the purpose etched into my soul. 

Sister friend, do you sometimes get that gnawing sense that you are missing out on the glorious life God has for you? That there just has to be more than this? Through my own experience, I have come to know that this is God knocking on the door to the better life He has planned for you. There is more, and He wants to give it to you.

The truth is, God gives us all gifts. We are all called to glorify Him and promote His kingdom on earth, even as we stumble through life, making mistakes and living in the monotony of the everyday. Our hearts yearn to glorify our Father because it is written on our souls. This is our purpose and the crowning joy of our lives. 

If you, like me, have been doubting you are specially created and given a unique task, you are hurting your core identity and not walking in the glorious life God has for you. We cannot ignore or run from our created purpose and still feel contented and joyful. Walking in our gifts and fulfilling our unique purpose brings the glorious life God planned for us. Afterall, He is the one who created the longings in our hearts and the plans to fulfill them. 

But before you shake your realistic head and believe this message is not sensible for you, let me share that I still work in my secular corporate job. It's been a few years since that radical moment of faith when I signed up for the writing conference. I have planted many great seeds and seen some tremendous first fruits, but I am still awaiting God to unfold the next chapters in the story He is writing. Apostle Paul went back to his work as a tent-maker after his conversion on the road to Damascus for many years before God called Him into ministry full-time. And some of us were never meant to be in ministry full-time. God needs kingdom builders in the secular parts of the world too.  

Let me assure you that callings are not only for those called to ministry and dreams can unfold among the mundane and reality-driven days. They only require faith in the unseen and small steps of obedience toward the God who desires to give you the glorious life He has planned for you- the life your heart is longing for. 

Let's Pray: 

Father - we believe that you have written purpose on our hearts and call us to find it in obedience to you. Help us overcome our fears of the things we need so we can believe that if we seek Your kingdom first, all things will be added to us. Help us understand the next step we can take to start walking in the purpose you have created us for. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Author note: much of this content is from my book You Are Loved & Free: A Guided Journey to Winning the Battle for your Identity