I'm No Pastor. What About My Calling?: A Personal Response to "How Do You Know You Are Called?"

By Charlotte O

As Drake mentioned, calling “can be unique for every individual”

I think this is true, and part of that reason is that we have a God who created us uniquely and he knows exactly who we can be. That being said, I think that God also uses unique ways to reveal that calling to us as well. God knows how to communicate with us because he created us. He knows how to get our attention. Take my life for example. It was only looking back later that I identified my calling to missions. I wasn’t aware that was what was happening in the moment, but the fact that that moment has so clearly remained with me all these years later indicates to me that it was a significant part of my calling. 

Now why would God do that? Because he knows me. So well. He knows that my initial response to an idea that sounds unfamiliar, uncomfortable, undoable, unbelievable is panic. It happens to me all the time at work. “Hey Charlotte, we have a new project for you.” My thoughts: Ahh, there’s no way I can do that! I don’t have the time! I don’t have the resources! I’m not skilled in that area. Someone else could do a better job. (Just call me Moses. Or Jeremiah.) And then, if I haven’t messed it up for myself by saying no, within a few hours or days, my tune changes to: That would be really cool. What an interesting challenge. That could really make a difference. I’m willing to give it a try!

Well that’s pretty much how God did it for me. He embedded a heart for the nations into me, got me to fall in love with ESL and equipped me as a teacher before he EVER told me to go overseas. And I’m sure glad he did. If he would have told me: “You will spend 10 years of your life in Taiwan” when I was 21 years old, I probably would have run screaming the other way, à la Jonah. He didn’t even tell me that the first year. Or the second. Or the fifth. I’m starting to get an indication of the commitment He is asking from me as doors have been opening for me to apply for permanent residency in 2014. Which is terrifying to me. Because it seems so, well, permanent. 

So all of that to say that calling may be a big light bulb moment for you. Or it may be a soft glow illuminating the path you are walking, which increases with each step of obedience. God told Paul almost immediately what he would be doing. But with Abraham, he simply said, “Go to the place I will show you.” 

So think about your own history with God. How did he speak to you when you first met? What did he reveal to you when you got baptized? Don’t make Peter’s mistake in hoping and expecting your destiny to be the same as the disciple next to you. 

Oh yeah. And do all the stuff Drake said, too.