xbabyelle asked:

How do I discover my calling in life? I often get stressed out because I am in college spending money on tuition when I’m not even 100% sure what I want to do. I sometimes even fear the future that I won’t ever figure out what I’m really good at and work in a field that I really don’t like. Something tells me not to worry because I will be very successful but sometimes I become impatient and anxious. Can you please give me some advice, thank you

I answered:

It is awesome that you are thinking about finding your calling. The first thing we need to do is define what a calling is. Simply put, calling is what God has for you to do. God calls us to a job (or several different jobs over a lifetime), certain relationships, a church (or several over time), and other areas of life. Your career isn’t the whole of your calling. 

One of the biggest misconceptions about calling is that it is all about your gifts. People get wound up on this idea that a calling is where your gifts are used with maximum efficiency. There are a lot of problems with this kind of thinking. The biggest is that people get this thought that if it is ever hard, or unrewarding, or if you are being ineffective for a season, then it must not really be your calling. That is obviously not true, every assignment is tough.

It is also not necessarily true that your calling is something that you are better than anyone at. God used Moses to speak to Pharaoh despite a speech impediment, used Paul in spite of his past, used Sarah in spite of her medical condition. It is not our skills and aptitudes that make a calling, it is the voice of the Lord. That will often involve some of your strengths, but it will also incorporate you weaknesses and challenges, which are just as much a part of God making you who you are meant to be.

You don’t want to get too focused on what you think your calling should be, that makes it much harder to listen to the Lord. Be open to whatever opportunity you get to try something. Whether that is helping out with youth ministry, a short term mission trip, helping out at a soup kitchen or jail ministry; you may discover that you love something you never guessed you would be called to.

College is the perfect place to try enough experiences to figure it out. So it can be well worth the experience even if you don’t directly use your degree. God has something for you that He has for no one else. Calling is not about decision, it is about discovery. You can’t force it or make it happen. You should experience as much as you can and look for the Lord’s leading. 

God is calling you somewhere, and it will be revealed to you. Our role isn’t to excavate it, it is to have the faith to believe when it comes. Your calling will almost definitely feel to big for you. That is when you have to cling to the fact that God is making this go, and not you. Your calling is important to God, and He will see to it. Your role is to do as your called to, so relax and have patience in that.

-Matt from The Bridge

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