What images are presenting themselves in your mind when you hear the word “calling?”  What is the first thought that penetrates deep within the grey matter of your brain?  Do you see a wall phone ringing, insisting on attention? Or a graham cracker sized computer safely placed in your back pocket that announces unknown caller?

Alexander Graham Bell, who came from the great country of Scotland ,invented the first real telephone, I am grateful for that, most days.  Since that time, our culture has moved from telephone operators to telephone booths that charge ten cents per conversation.  We have gone from a phone in every home to a phone in every pocket.  Such is the constant evolution of the act of calling.

The focus of this blog is not to review the history of the telephone transmitter,

but to turn your eyes and heart toward your individual calling.  My faithful family and more importantly God’s word, taught me that the word calling describes the work we were placed on this planet to perform.  The assignment from our Maker, the tasks we are assigned. Created For a Purpose

Because our God is faithful, he doesn’t just give us this heavenly assignment and wave us away, leaving us to muddle through each day alone.  He is the  Jehova- Jireh our provider.   He is not like those employers who purchase new tech,  disperse it to employees with little or no training or support.  A nod is all these loyal workers receive, they are left scrambling to become proficient on their own.  He doesn’t just assign, He empowers, he equips. 

Our God promises to supply our every need. Scripture teaches, that our faithful Father:

“Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”. Philippians 1:6

“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” Philippians 2:13

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26

It is our Father who places this special calling in our souls. His Spirit breathes on each follower providing a unique appointment for his children.  This calling, assignment, appointment is a precious gift that only we as believers and followers of Christ are presented.

Seventieth century scientist Isaac Newton’s first law of inertia states that an object in motion stays in motion.  I use this as an analogy to describe the momentum created when we begin to fulfill this calling.  As our special assignment is nourished, it wells up in us and creates a thirst that drives us to still greater action. Our hearts will nearly burst with desire until we move toward and fulfill our purpose.  

You may be wondering how the process of receiving a heavenly assignment may work. 

The one and only God will never force His presence or power on anyone, never.  In creating us He gives us free will. We may choose to acknowledge or ignore His presence and His love. He does no arm twisting, no propaganda or manipulation.  He gently invites us into an eternal relationship with Him. If we choose the road to ignore rather than acknowledge Him as commander and chief, His promise and power will never be manifested in our lives. His promises and presence are exclusively reserved for those who desire Him, and invite Him to be Lord of their life. But, if we step out of the driver’s seat of our Life and move to Shotgun Formation, we will be provided with an unimaginable adventure, an assignment and a promise that our Father that will never leave or forsake us.

A poor analogy of this eternal transaction is this.  Consider the way your local financial institution works, the currency is your life, your soul, your past, present and future.   As you entrust a local bank or credit union with your financial resources, you can entrust your maker with you.  Included in this transaction are your gifts, talents, finances, time, the whole ball of wax as the saying goes.  If there is no trust, no acknowledgement of your Creator, no deposit of “you”, there can be no withdrawal of His power, provision and guidance.

As we empty ourselves of our self, God generously provides His Spirt to complete what is missing.

He opens our hearts and minds to His truth, the only truth. At this point, He entrusts us with a calling, a purpose, a gift. With this, He provides a way and the training we need to fulfill this calling.  He empowers us to carry out His will for our lives.

He is a very creative Father in that none of us are wired the same way.  Each and everyone of us has a unique gift, a calling.  Take a peek at the variety of plants and animals He designed.  Or gaze on the planets and the solar system’s unexplainable diversity.  We are mirror images of his potpourri of design.  Do you see it?  

“Now there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work”. Romans 12: 4-6

The Old Testament book of Esther, records a story regarding a threat of annihilation of the Jewish community.

Queen Esther was asked to do a very dangerous thing in order to save her people. In encouraging her to risk her own life in order to spare her fellow Jews, her uncle said to her “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  Can that not be true for us even today?  Scripture says that everyone of us who has been entrusted with a calling, must not keep it to ourselves. Those around us desperately need what we have been equipped to share. Can you encourage? Are you a good listener? Are you a craftsman, are you good with children or creative in any way?  There are so many callings & gifts, but they are of no use if they are not shared.

Now, look around you. Who can have a better day, receive a blessing, have a burdened shared, or experience a smile or a belly laugh thanks to the calling you have been entrusted with.

Allow me to encourage you to go, and be a blessing as you have been blessed!
karen