Time for a Reassessment?
Have you ever been moving along, things were going well and you knew you were in the center of God’s will…then for some reason you find yourself totally thinking…”It must be time for a change, this doesn’t feel right anymore.” I have. Right in the middle of following God’s surprising purpose in my life and ministry.
My call didn’t happen overnight. It was a gradual pull by the Holy Spirit to grow deeper in Christ, serve Him by serving others and then eventually into vocational ministry for women. Definitely not my plan…not even on my radar. But having felt so blessed and fulfilled to GET to serve Christ and others this way, I was not prepared for a time I would question that call.
Do you, like I did, assume when you discover His purpose for your life, that it will always be THAT way? That He won’t ever change or take that call to a deeper level?
Although my journey of questioning God’s call after arriving at LifeWay to serve there 23+ years, lasted about 2 years, God taught me SO much in that time. It was about 6-8 years after I’d begun ministry there that this season occurred. And it just wasn’t “fun” anymore…it just didn’t feel “right” anymore.
Several things had happened…reorganization of our teams, I was over 50, the onset of my mom’s dementia, the death of a young co-worker. I read a book called Second Calling for those in the second half of life.
Having heard a challenging message on James 4:13-17, I wondered if I was wasting the time I have left on earth. That passage says:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.”
What was I doing I shouldn’t be doing and what was I NOT doing I should be? So I was questioning lots of things at this time, including my ministry call.
But I chose to listen to God and seek to be faithful (if not fulfilled) instead of walking away from this place of serving. What a huge part of my story I’d have missed if I had. And the journey with Him during this tough season was one of the sweetest I’ve ever had with Him. I learned so much about Him.
So what do we do when we aren’t sure we are where God’s wants us to be. Let me suggest 8 things you can do:
- Seek Him first and foremost. Who is He? What is He like? (Stay in the Word!)
- Seek Him MORE than you seek an answer. This was HUGE for me to learn!
- Ask yourself: “What was the last thing I know He told me to do”, then do that till He tells you something different.
- Watch for open (or closed) doors.
- Pray for clarity and wisdom.
- Be patient in the journey if the answer is slow.
- Ask others to pray with and for you (to know Him better, to see His will daily).
- Serve Him daily in every small or large thing He places before you.
One thing I was also encouraged to do (and have found this true in every difficulty I’ve faced) is to journal what God is doing. You see His hand more clearly as you look back on how He has worked. This can even be bullet points rather than paragraphs.
Photo by Tom Holmes on Unsplash
It’s a way to never forget His hand in and through your life. And it’s something you will be reminded to share with others when they question their purpose and direction in life.
Banner photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
