That's Not My Calling!!

It seems like there are always people who want to push their opinions onto us, especially as to our course in life. They think they know what is best for you, but they may refuse to even consider what is in your mind and heart.

When I was growing up with blindness and epilepsy, my Dad had a hard time with what I was planning for my life. When I wrote as a hobby, he didn't appreciate it and once told me, "You'll never be a poet". This damaged my life for many years because as you know parents have a strong influence on their children in many ways, especially in self-esteem. If you don't use God's wisdom when you talk to your kids about their dreams, you can damage them sometimes permanently. Instead of controlling them, seek to guide them and then let go and let God take over. We may not always agree with what they choose, just as others don't agree with our choices, but they are the ones who have to be accountable for their choices as we are for ours.

Just before I was married the first time, my Dad told my future father-in-law that I was going to be a custodian for a school district. He had it all planned out for me, but I didn't know this until later. When I found out about it, I refused because that was not the direction I believed my life should take. I couldn't drive because of my handicaps and wasn't educated in how to fix things anyway. So you can imagine what I went through!! It wasn't my calling to do this, even though it would have been a great job with benefits.

When I started college, I went to the state Rehabilitation Department and they tested me. It came out as math as my best subject because I had helped on egg routes as a boy helping my family. So I was given money to take accounting classes at college which I failed because my eyes were not good enough to see the squares on the different forms. Although it was a good choice for someone, it wasn't for me. It wasn't my calling!!

I went through English courses improving my writing and looking toward being an English teacher but that didn't work out either. I tried Speech to get my communication skills to be better and thought about being a Speech therapist. During the course of this, I met my first wife. But this wasn't to be my profession either. It wasn't my calling!!

Next, I tried Business courses, economics, computer classes---all these helped me in different ways to round out my education but they still weren't my calling in life. I had had inclinations toward being a minister as a teenager but sort of dismissed them for a while until just before I married the first time. Then my Mom took me to a Bible college about 90 minutes away from home. I was all set to enroll, then something happened and it didn't happen.

20 years later, I was living in another city, still married, working at a hardware store. This time the Lord provided all the funding and a great location only five miles from home. If I had taken the other ministry courses before, they would have cost my parents many thousands of dollars. Now all my education was paid by the church I was attending. Praise the Lord! This was one of my callings, but the Lord had more in store for me.

Over the years I had progressed from poetry to newspaper articles to magazine articles and then to books in my writing. I am now in the book-writing phase even though I still do some of all the other phases as well. God took me on a gradual journey exploring new facets of writing all through my life.

Now I am waiting for disability to be approved because of my bad eyesight and other reasons. Thankfully, there are many technological innovations to help me see as I work on my writing. He has a plan for my life, but it takes a step of trust at a time to get there. He will do the same for your life. You may not know many years at a time in advance what God is going to do with your life, but you just have to walk it out one step at a time with God guiding you.

So I had a lot of things I could have done with my life, but they didn't work out. I made a lot of missteps but God improved my writing along the way, found a wonderful first wife for me, then brought me a second wife later in life to help me with the next phase of God's will .

Maybe you, too, haven't found God's will easy to recognize?? Not everyone does! But if you keep close to God He is going to guide your life even when you can't see or feel it happening. Someday you will look back and see the wonderful things God has done for you, and praise His name for it.

Keep going no matter what happens. Keep striving toward the goals of your life with God's help and encouragement. Remember, friends and family won't always encourage you the way you need it, but God will if you stay close to Him and listen for His guidance, then obey. The Bible promises He will never leave or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5) You have His promise on it!!

Following God's Will For Your Life

Over the years I have wrestled with many faith issues as have you, most likely. In the course of these, I have learned some interesting lessons about following God's will:

Following is a choice.

Just as the disciples in Jesus' day had to choose to follow Him, we also must choose. If we truly want to follow God then we have to forsake other paths that beckon us as distractions. We have never been to the future before, so only God knows the way. We can choose to go our own path, but then we risk a lot by not following God's will. Look at what Jonah went through in the Bible because he went the opposite direction to what God wanted him to do. God takes into account our desires as it says in Psalm 37, but only He knows the pitfalls that lie ahead of us.

Others won't always agree with you.

When my first wife died, I was terribly devastated after 33 years of marriage. I later met someone online who lived in another state, and after ten weeks married her. You can imagine what I heard from my friends and family!! We have currently been married two years and very happy. We knew we were following God's will for our lives but we couldn't explain it to others. The more we tried, the less headway we made. You can't always explain things to people when you are following God. Another example from the Bible is in Genesis when God asked Abraham to follow His directions to a new Promised Land, but Abraham didn't know anymore than that. He had to launch out on faith.

When my new wife came to where I was to help me pack, my family and friends got to meet her briefly but still there was a note of reservation there. God knew we each needed a new start and He had a plan for us, but we had to go against the grain of people's opinions to realize that gift. It was terribly hard but it was worth it. I still keep in contact with my friends and family, but we don't live near them.

Ultimately, you have to decide.

When I got married suddenly, I had three people I consulted before I did it. Even then, I didn't have peace about following their advice, which was against the marriage. Two were for it, and one was not. I had asked for a unanimous ruling one way or the other. We were both so miserable, we prayed about it together, and went ahead the next day and married despite what was said. The point is, you have to follow the peace. You can ask people's opinions but you have to decide what God is wanting for your life. You are the one accountable for your choices, not anyone else. If you are truly trying to follow God's will, then you can look where the peace is and folliow the peace through each rough spot in the road.

These three items are just the beginning of what I have learned about following God's will for my life. Your walk with God may be different than mine. I would love to hear about your experiences and what you have learned from them, if you would like to comment on my blog. I appreciate that, and God bless you as you follow Him.