Episode #193: Is My Calling Lost? What to Do When It Feels Unclear – What’s Going On?!

Hey friends, welcome to part two talking about calling. And if you haven't yet heard part one, jump back to the very last episode because we're not human doings. We're human beings. And our calling from God starts there.

Really today we're looking at what to do when you think you're walking out your calling and it starts to get confusing and you're like, what's going on? I feel like for a lot of us, it's easy in seasons of change or of uncertainty to have questions for God about what that has to do with our callings. And I especially see this when we feel like we've messed up, whether it's, we've fallen into sin in some area. Or we feel like we had a huge opportunity, and we fumbled it’ Or when we're just not getting the opportunities that we thought we would get in the expression of how we feel called to serve with God and what He's doing in the world.

Oftentimes when those things are happening, we're like, “Oh my gosh, did I miss it? Am I disqualified now? Am I not going to get another chance? Do I not get to walk it out because it looks differently than I thought it would?”

When those kind of questions are coming about, most of the time, one of the core concerns that we have deep down is, did I lose my calling?

Am I not called to that anymore?

Did God take that away from me?

Take that burden off your mind.

In Romans 11, it's talking about how the Gentiles non-Jewish people, which is me, is probably many of you, are also included to receive God's salvation.

And I'm going to pick up in verse 29 and then read verses 33 through 36, and it says,

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable… Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:29,33-36)

So God doesn't think like we do. And he sees long past our current place in our own lives. And he says the gifts and the call, they're irrevocable. You can't lose them.
If you're worried about that, God's not taking away the calling that he's given you, he's not going to take back the spiritual giftings that he's given you either.

So while that's helpful to understand, it can also then lead us to some other questions about what's going on when it pertains to our calling or using our giftings. And this short episode cannot in any way cover all of these topics, but I want to bring some insight for you to then have you continue to learn about in scripture, to talk with trusted mentors and friends, and to continue talking with God about.

One of those concepts is the difference between calling and assignment.

See, the calling stays the same, but the assignment often changes. I've come to think about it as the calling being the WHAT, and the assignment being the WHERE and the WAYS that we steward it.

So I am called to teach the Bible, but where I do that and the methods that I use, the resources that I provide, those are all different assignments.

I've done that in volunteer ministry and in vocational pastoral ministry. I've done that in podcasts, from platforms, in articles and in books and in Bible study resources. Those assignments all look different in different seasons. But the calling stays the same.

You can also see this in parenting. If you're a parent, then serving your children and raising disciples in your family, that's part of your calling. But what that looks like is different. Those assignments are different based on your children and their personalities and their ages and their needs.

And so those assignments may change over time, but the calling remains the same.

Also, we can miss assignments, we can miss invitations that God is extending to us. And when we act in disobedience, we can remove ourselves from his anointing, from his supernatural grace for something. We can also come back to him in repentance.

And so my encouragement for you is not to get so much caught up on, “Oh, did I miss this? And is it ever going to come back? And what is the opportunity or the assignment really going to look like?”

But to keep your eyes on the One who calls you. To exercise your giftings, to seek, to, learn how to use them, to ask him to train you and to pursue God and to continue to ask him to guide you in your calling.

In Ephesians 2:10, which is one of my favorite verses, it says,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

You're his workmanship. Let him continue his good work in you. And so if you have those questions, “I called for more? Did I miss it? What does God want from me? Or maybe even who am I to do this? I don't have the skills for that.” Remember that you are His workmanship.

Jesus called the fishermen from boats to follow him, and then to learn to fish for men.

God called Isaiah, the man with unclean lips, to be cleansed and then sent him to be his spokesperson. You are his workmanship.

And so here's our question to go to God with today:

God, what does walking in my calling and using my giftings look like here?

Have a good talk.

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