Each To Their Calling

 This post will be unlike any I have ever written before. I encompasses years of frustration I've dealt with and lessons in acceptance I've learned along the way. So bear with me because I promise this will be helpful to you or someone you know...

For most of my life, I have been ordinary yet not ordinary. I have lived a normal life like everyone else, but I've also been called to paths most did not understand. From a very early age, I was aware of the fact that I wasn't destined to walk the journey of most people. So many choices my parents and I made over the years drove it deep into my soul that this life wasn't about me. Or what I wanted. Or what I thought. But it was about following God. 

 Don't get me wrong...there have been seasons of life where, I'll admit, I thought I knew better than God what was good and right for my life. But overall, I've always returned in some way to the simple truth that my life is not my own. This realization has led me to make decisions based on the leading of Jesus in my life and not my own perception or rationalization. However...many people over the years would argue that somehow I was failing myself because I wasn't living life the way they thought made sense. 

 Whether it was my parents choice to educate me at home, my personal choice to date with a purpose and wait for an intentional relationship, my choice to choose ministry over college, or to work a lesser paying job in order to do God's work...a lot of folks just couldn't be okay with all that. And they let me know. Boy, did they let me know! Conversations after conversations of "what do you want to be?" "Have you considered instead..." "Don't you want to rethink all that?" ...to the point where I used to overly prepare before situations where I thought I'd be grilled on my life and come up with some rehearsed answer that might satisfy all the questions. Might somehow earn me acceptance with these people who couldn't take my story for what it was. Over time, I became an approval addict who was pushed to the brink of compromise in some things just to maybe try to silence the unsolicited advice.

 Sadly, quite a bit of the pressure actually came from within the Christian circle. People of God who I thought would surely understand the concept of letting God write the story of your life were often the source of a lot of my fear and trepidation. I could understand why people who unbelievers wouldn't see it, but Christians? C'mon! Yet I could see that this exposed another sad reality: that many believers have bought into the cultural standards of what is defined as success and that those who are called to different paths are seen as the outsiders and the weird ones. Both within and without the Church, there is an unspoken idea that what defines success is how we define it and, that often means we push our own definition on others. 

 Several years ago, I came to realization that there was nothing I could humanly do to impress or convince any of my doubters that my destined path was the right one. All I could do was point them to the fact that God had called me to this journey. Sometimes I couldn't even explain the path God was taking me on, let alone justify it to someone else. But God's will was the only thing I could fall back on as an explanation and, if somebody didn't understand that, there was nothing more I could do. 

 Even recently, I still find myself answering questions from people who are viewing my life from their own vantage point. And it makes me realize that I'm probably not the only one who finds themselves in a similar situation. There could be some of you readers who have experience with fending off pressure from others who, while usually well-meaning, question every move you make and wonder if you've gone crazy for deciding to do something you know in your heart God led you to do. And that is why I wanted to write this post...

 To remind us all that our own journeys are unique and special. That God has specifically designed our paths to be suited to us individually so that we can each fill the particular place in this world that God intends us to. He has so ordered our steps that every single one of us would be prepared, equipped, and challenged according to the direction He is moving us toward. Because of this fact, none of us should make each other feel as though any one calling is better or worse than another. None of us should force our own journey onto somebody else and think, "This worked for me so why wouldn't it do the same for them?!" Life isn't like that. Some are called to college education, and some are called to trade skills. Others are called to missionary service, while others are called to serve their families at home. Some are led to pursue life outside the community they grew up in, yet others are destined to remain exactly where they came from and influence the place they call home. So many different directions God can lead people into but, we often make it seem as though certain of those directions won't lead to so-called "success" in the world. 

 Honestly though...if God is the One defining success, shouldn't that be enough? Need anybody ask for a further answer? 

I have long loved this quotation by John Newton as he wisely advised, 

"We must not, therefore, make the experience of others, in all respects,

a rule to ourselves, nor our own a rule to others. There are common 

mistakes, and productive of many more."

So...next time you find yourself either on the giving or receiving end of unsolicited advice, ask if the advice is worth even giving (or worth paying attention to, for that matter). If it's something that will point to the validity of God's calling on your life or someone else's, then let it be said and received. But if it's just being given out of somebody's personal view, then let it be taken with a grain of salt. And, remember too, that no calling is too lowly for God to use you. We each have a path laid out for us. Even if those around us don't understand what God is using us for, don't let that discourage us from pursuing His purpose for us with a passion. Let obedience to His will be our guide, not the opinions of others.