What exactly is “a calling?” I believe it’s the thing that you know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that God has called you to do with your life. You may have known it for years, or at least had an inkling. Maybe you’ve even avoided it, afraid of failure. No matter how you respond to it, it continues to “call” you until you answer.
For many years, I knew I was gifted as a writer. Beginning in 4th grade, people were praising my prose. As I grew into an adult, I got my degree in journalism and was hired as a writer/editor into the corporate sector. In my spare time, I wrote a lot of things–children’s books, a screenplay, a young adult novel. But none of my “works” ever felt right, or came easy. And yet the call continued, as though I still hadn’t answered it.
We had two daughters, and I left my managing editor job when my second daughter became mobile. As the years went by, and I became further and further removed from the professional writing life, I began to call it “my hobby.” I wrote some here and there, and it was easier to call it my hobby because then if my personal writing never amounted to anything–if no one bought it or published it–then I wouldn’t be embarrassed or ashamed. A hobby is just that–something you do for yourself. But still, the call continued.
I don’t remember exactly when or how the idea of the book began to materialize. I do know that I felt completely inept. God was calling me to write about His personality and like Sarai, Abraham’s wife, I wanted to laugh. Surely He meant for a theologian to do so…a pastor, perhaps…more likely a highly publicized Bible study teacher…or someone who had at least a few theology classes under their belt. Nope, He insisted. I want you.
As I sat down and began to write the first chapter, I began to experience the thrill of my life. It wasn’t apparent at first. There I was, sitting in a semi-dark office, day after day, for two to three hours at a time, writing, researching, and conversing with Him. But as the first chapter drew to a close, and He suggested the topic for the next chapter, and then the next and the next, I realized that He was no longer calling. I was smack dab in the middle of what I was made to do. Joy began to bubble up, and as I would reread things I had written a week before, I would be astounded–not at my own writing ability, but at what He had revealed to me as I’d written, how He had coined a phrase and put it into my mind, how He had brought to mind the perfect scriptures, anecdotes and even other books that He had recently brought into my life that had text that was perfect to help illuminate a point.
It was no longer “a calling.” It was now a ministry, and I began to have the boldness to say so. The result of my answer to that call is my newly published book, God, Up Close and Personal: A glimpse into the heart and character of God. I hope you’ll take a look at the new website for the book, www.godupcloseandpersonal.com You’ll find reader reviews on the website so you can get an idea as to whether it would be something you would enjoy–or possibly an unchurched friend or family member. My prayer and my desire is that God would bring about an abundant harvest from this book.
I believe God is calling laborers into the harvest–real people to minister to real people. Don’t reject the call because you are afraid you’re not equipped. All you have to do is answer, and He will give you everything you need. And let me tell you, it will be the best time you ever had in your life, because it is what you were made for.
