Some days all we have is our calling. The new place will be hard. Our outlook will get foggy. Our hearts will grow heavy. People will let us down. Circumstances will change. Knowing God has called us to this place will make all the difference in those moments. To clarify the calling, let’s ask the right questions. They flow from God, not from this fleeting, always-changing world. Is God first? Do I love Him more than work, culture, success, and location? Is our move about more than what we can get out of it? Is it possible He’s got a plan for us here? If He is my hope, will I share Him? If we cannot answer yes to these questions, then when the physical location stops doing it for us, we will bail.- “Love Where You Live: How To Live Sent in the Place You Call Home“, by Shauna Pilgreen.

The first photo was from Jim Elliot’s journal. The second was from Elisabeth Elliot.

God calls us, which means we must listen and respond. God calls us to tasks and to service, but most important, he calls us into relationship with him. But when most people use the word calling, they’re usually referring to a to-do list, a job offer, or a wish list. The truth about calling, however, is that it has little to do with any of these.

Our calling is not a list of things God wants us to get done, yet most of us have some affinity for lists. We find it helpful to break down our complex goals into bite-size tasks that, taken together, add up to a realized objective. For example, when asked how I write a book, I say, “I have no idea. I have never done it, nor am I capable of doing it.” Writing a book is an impossible task, but it is not that difficult to write twelve chapters. The person who has not learned the skill of segmenting his or her life goals and tasks is at a severe disadvantage, because everything will look too big to do (I most likely heard this message from Ben Pilgreen preaching about vision and strategy).

So while creating to-do lists is a necessary skill, it is not what God calls us to do. His calling involves doing, but we are seldom called to do a single or even a central task. What he calls us to do is in accord with a larger task—that of being. We are not what we do, but we do become like whom we serve.

God calls us to certain tasks and jobs, but he doesn’t do so because we are uniquely suited to do them. He calls us to the task or job because we are weak, broken, and ill-equipped for the task.

I don’t believe anyone is called to a job or a profession. My calling in life is not to be a writer, therapist, speaker, teacher, trainer, or administrator. My calling is to walk through any door God gives me in order to reveal his glory. If I’m a graduate-school president, it’s for a season, but my life lasts for eternity. If I am a physician or an auto mechanic, it is no different: I am called by God not for a mere season or reason but for an eternity to reveal his glory. What is my calling? It is to make known something about God that is bound to my unique face, name, and story. It is to reveal God through my character. – “To Be Told: God Invites You To Be The Coauthor Of Your Future“, Dan B. Allender, PhD

What deepest desire of our being does God call us to discover? It is no other love and no other one but him. We are called to reveal God through the themes and dreams he has woven into our heart. God births dreams in us and then allows the desire to move us; it is in the pursuit of our dreams that we encounter tragedy and meet the deeper desires that only loss and heartache can reveal.