Discover Your Calling

A new year - 2002 - brings with it lots of new possibilities for how you can spend your time and energy. The dawn of a new year is a natural time to consider your calling in life, and how you can best align your choices with it.

Sometimes, though, you may not clearly understand God's purpose for your life. And even if you do, God is constantly revealing more about it as you grow as a person. So take some time to discover more about your calling.

Here are some ways to discover your calling:

• Know that God has a purpose for your life and has given you unique attributes so you can use them to accomplish that purpose. Think about the ways God has wired you - your talents, your interests, your desires - and write down a list of them. Consider the ways you've been able to bless other people in the past. Then thank God for how He has created you and ask Him to reveal more about how He would like you to contribute to His kingdom.

• Confess any sin that's blocking your intimacy with God, and open every aspect of your life to God's guidance. Consider whether anything in your life - a relationship, a job, or anything else - is distracting you from focusing on God. If so, make God the top priority in your life by spending more time with Him than you do pursuing anything else. Invite God to work in your life no matter how He would like to do so.

• Pray and read the Bible regularly, listening closely for how God might choose to speak to you during that time.

• Ask some people who you know have strong relationships with God how they think you could serve Him well, then pray about their feedback. God will sometimes use advice from people who are close to Him to affirm your calling.

• Don't worry about pleasing other people. Instead, strive just to please God. His opinion is the only one that ultimately matters.

• Don't compare yourself to other people or feel that you have to compete with them. Realize that God has given you a calling that's just important as anyone else's, and that a calling doesn't have to seem glamorous to be significantly influential.

• Be patient. Know that God often chooses to reveal a person's calling through a dynamic process rather than through a dramatic, one-time event. Think about what He's revealed to you so far, act on it, then ask Him for guidance for your next steps. Remember that He's always shaping you as a person.

• Look for ways that your dreams intersect with opportunities. Be alert for chances to act on the calling God has revealed to you so far.

• Try out new ideas on a small scale, then evaluate the results. Be flexible and willing to explore.

• Strive to obey God when He leads you to do anything, even if it seems small to you. If you obey a small instruction, God will probably give you another. He leads you in everyday life, not just when you're facing major decisions such as who to marry or what new job to pursue.

Adapted from Six Steps to Clarify Your Calling, copyright 2000 by Carol Kent and Karen Lee-Thorp. Published by NavPress, Colorado Springs, Co., www.navpress.com, 1-800-366-7788.

Carol Kent is a writer and speaker who has authored many books and magazine articles. She also serves as president of Speak Up Speaker Services, a Christian speakers' bureau. Karen Lee-Thorp is the senior editor of Bible studies and small group resources at NavPress and the author of more than 50 study guides.

What's your calling in life? If you know, how do you hope to fulfill it through your life during 2002? If you're not sure, how do you hope to discover more about it? Visit Live It's forum to respond, or read what others have to say. Just click on the link below.