For many are called but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14
I was unhappy, felt undervalued, and underutilized. That’s really how I knew I wasn’t operating in my calling.
I started teaching because I loved working with children and because I’d always been told that it was something I should do, because I had the traits for it.
You see I love talking, helping, sharing, coaching and loving. I have a genuine desire to help people. I enjoyed teaching but I felt a bit limited by the classroom. I felt destined to help more, reach more, and do more.
I would stay up at night, jot down notes in the car, during lunch break, on the way to work, on the way to pick up my kids; all day! The feeling of restlessness wasn’t going to go away until I began to pursue what I was being urged into pursuing. I have book ideas, events, speeches, CDs, and so much more because I’ve been charged with a set of people to reach and a message to teach.
The reason I knew it was my calling was because when I’d get off track, my calling would call me back. Things were coming together in a way that was way more than a coincidence. When I felt like giving up, my people sought me out! I couldn’t escape it!
Your calling will find you too and require you to stop looking at yourself and climbing your career ladder but look for people to serve. The thing is you can’t decide on who you want to serve or what you’re going to do. Trust me I’ve tried but I failed because that wasn’t my calling and those weren’t my people!
Your calling involves your values, your passions, your hopes, your skills, and more. There tends to be a yearning and restlessness with the work you’re currently doing.
Your calling is unique to you. It’s something only you can do. Now you’re probably saying nothing is unique to one person but it can be.
There will always be something that everyone can do but only about 80%. The other 20% comes from your education and experiences; those things that are unique to you.
Questions to Find Your Calling:
- What do you genuinely enjoy doing?
- How do you like doing it?
- Is the area you enjoy working in solving a problem? What is it?
- Does the thought of working in this area keep you up at night?
- Does it allow you to use more than one skill? What skills can you use?
- Do you feel most fulfilled and utilized in this area? Why?
- Has your experiences and training all built you up for this moment or is completely random? List the experiences here.
Free Download: You can download a free one-page PDF worksheet of this exercise by clicking here to make it even easier for you to do!
Confirming Your Calling
I was often told that confirmations come in threes. If I recieve a message from someone three times about the same subject I was either praying about or seeking an answer to, then I know that thing to be true.
I got a random email one day from a woman I never met who said “I love your work, God designed you for this. Keep going.” Along with the two other confirmations I recieved that week I knew the work I was doing was for me; mentoring and speaking to youth, parents, and educators.
If you are trying to identfy your calling, I suggest praying about it. Then wait for your answer. It will come, and if it comes in threes then you know its not a coincedence or something you’re imagining.
Changes In Your Calling
Bishop Dale C. Bronner says that there are three phases in life: learning, earning, and returning. Your calling may change according to what phase you find yourself in. If you’ve known your calling in the first stages of your life which is learning you might be transitioning into the earning phase which may require you to branch out and build a business from that education.
You have have spent years working for someone or building your own platform and now it’s time to find a younger person to pour into. There are phases to your calling. There will be a shift but it will always be your calling.
Your calling is like a familiar friend knocking at the door, let him in! When you respond to the invitation you’ll experience the greatest joys in life.