“I think God is calling me in some way.”
I was thirteen years old and it was the final service of church camp. God had been busy prompting me throughout the week, and I had finally decided to step forward and talk to the counselor.
“What a blessing,” she replied. “As a female you have two options. You will either be a missionary or become a pastor’s wife.”
Thus began a forty-year journey regarding God’s call. Here are a few lessons I have learned through experience:
1) God’s call for us is as expansive as the heavens. With far more than only two options, He works to do exceedingly beyond all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 4:20). Both His ways and His thoughts are higher and farther-reaching than our short-sighted viewpoint (Isaiah 55:11). He specializes in using the weakest and the lowest to achieve His strongest and highest (1 Corinthians 1:27–28). The Spirit-life moves in broad strides and bold steps covering an expansive amount of ground (Genesis 13:17). As D.L. Moody stated, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is totally surrendered to God.”
2) God does not speak to us once and then set us aside. God communicates frequently, purposefully, and progressively. His desire is not a situation, but a sanctification—not merely geography, but glory. His Spirit is always on the move. He is always working (John 5:17) and always speaking (John 8:47). Because He is so active, He rarely leaves us in just one spot; the work is simply too vast (John 4:35).
3) Answering God’s call is like becoming one of Ezekiel’s living beings: Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings is in the wheels (Ezekiel 2:20). Oh, may we move wherever He calls—in whatever direction. May we advance without shifting focus as we go (Ezekiel 2:17).
God’s call is to Himself—more than a place, more than a job, more than an obligation. May our determination always be fixed on Jesus, steadily following Him around the globe wherever He leads (Hebrews 12:2; John 10:27). Granted, He sometimes does call us to a particular place in order to transform our attitude. Nevertheless, He is more interested in our attitude than in our address.
My call took me overseas. I spent twenty years in Asia and another six working for the home office. Missions is my passion but not my calling. My calling is Christ. After all, He is our life (Colossians 3:4).
Question to consider: How have you experienced that God “is more interested in our attitude, than in our address”?
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