On Finding Your Calling

I enjoy subscribing to the Resurgence blog ("The Resurgence is a reformed, complementarian, missional movement that trains missional leaders to serve the Church to transform cultures for Christ."), and in particular, I like Mark Driscoll's entries on that blog.


I was particularly struck by the recent one entitled, Train the Called-- Do Not call the Trained.  In it, he focuses on finding your calling.  He writes:

So I was talking to a new Christian recently and they were unsure about God's calling on their life. "I don't know what God wants me to do. Got all these new decisions to make in life now that I'm a new Christian." And they were very kind of panicked about it, "What do I do?" I said, "Don't worry about God's calling, first worry about God. The Bible says, 'Delight yourself in the Lord, and he'll give you the desires of your heart.'" I said, "Are you enjoying the Lord?" They said, "Yeah, I'm reading my Bible. I'm praying. I'm in a community group and reading good books, and I'm repenting of sin, and I'm seeing the ways that I'm not like Jesus, and my life is changing and yeah, I feel like there's momentum, and I'm really excited about Jesus, and I'm growing." "Great."

This person looked at me and said, "Well, what do I do?" I said, "Do whatever you want." They're like, "What? Do whatever I want?" "Yeah, because if you delight yourself in the Lord, he'll give you the desires of your heart. He'll put desires on your heart, so that God's desires become your desires." Augustine said it this way, "Love God and do whatever you please." I said, "Well, what do you like?" They're like, "Well, I like serving people, and I'm pretty extroverted and, you know, I like welcoming people." "So you want to be a greeter?" "Yeah, I'd love to be a greeter. And I love hospitality and I love getting people together." "So someday you'd like to be a community group leader?" "That'd be great. I'm not ready yet, but maybe I could apprentice and get ready." "Yeah, that'd be a great idea. How does that sound?" "That sounds really fun. Should I do it?" "Do you want to?" "Yeah, well, how do I know if it's God will or my will?" "Well, if you're enjoying the Lord, his will becomes your will. He's glorified, you're satisfied, other people are helped. Everybody wins, that's ministry." It's more about our heart enjoying the Lord, and then we'll want to do what he wants us do.

I really do recommend reading the whole post, but that last part is what resonated with me.  What are the desires of my heart?


A few years ago, while living in New York City, I was encouraged by a dear friend to begin a women's Bible study with some of my girlfriends.  I began with a lot trepidation-- fears about whether I was qualified to lead other women in the study of the Bible, about whether the girls would even want to be a part of something like that, and questions about what the heck we'd even talk about.  I jumped in head first, and God immediately blessed me and the others in that undertaking.  I learned that I loved theology, and enjoyed teaching others, and what's more, I saw real growth among all of us during that time.  On a recent trip to New York, I met with some of women, and was delighted to hear that they're still meeting together-- seven years later!  There are new faces now, and some of the women have gone on to start other studies with other women.  What a blessing that is!


When I picture the future, a frequent vision I have is a home where I can have people over.  I'd love to have a guest room that is always available to travelers in need.  More than that though, I picture a weekly open house.  I'd love to cook meals and let everyone know that every Tuesday night is family meal night.  Anyone who wants to drop in can, and after dinner we'll talk theology-- maybe going through a book of Systematic Theology together.  I picture a mixed crowd, so while I'd be happy to facilitate the discussion, I picture my husband (I don't have one yet-- that's also in the vision!), or another Christian male taking the honors.  This is the desire of my heart.


And while I don't have the home yet to make that dream reality, I can certainly get involved with small groups in my church.  I can prayerfully seek out younger (in the faith) Christian women and meet with them.


What desires has God planted in your heart?