Sometimes the callings on our lives seem so grand and enlightening. And sometimes, they seem more like just surviving. Our week-long camping trip in southern Colorado turned out like the latter. After pulling the kids out of school, we would head off to the Great Sand Dunes for a few days, followed by Pagosa Springs and maybe the Royal Gorge if we had time. I was really looking forward to sitting in a hot springs pool for an afternoon after a stressful back-to-school month.
This trip wasn’t to be anything like what we planned though, as my daughter ended up with a stomach bug as soon as we got to the sand dunes. Stomach bugs are vicious little beasts to begin with, but when you don’t have a washer and are out in an RV in the middle of nowhere, they become nightmares. After leaving early for home, my son started having the same issues in the car, and that night my husband also succumbed. Instead of beautiful hikes and relaxing hot springs, I spent the week doing laundry, cleaning up puke, keeping everyone hydrated and trying not to get sick myself.
It was not what I had planned. My vision of our camping trip was one of great family time. It was supposed to be a fun adventure, and was anything but that.
Often we expect our calling from God to be without trial. We hope that we can avoid suffering as we pursue the grand vision God has instilled in us. But callings come with menial tasks, frustrating standstills and rejection.
My friend Mike Wells used to tell me that with God’s call comes His provision. We haven’t just been called to follow Jesus with only our own resources to depend on. He provides the strength, the patience, the endurance—the whole thing. But I often want to quit anyway and look for an easier way. I like to avoid the hard stuff, keeping myself as comfortable as possible. I would prefer a calling with no actual sacrifice on my part.
One of my callings is to my family—to support my husband and kids through sickness, school projects and job changes. It doesn’t always look like a Hallmark movie. In fact, it almost never does! But it is beautiful in the messiness. And Jesus’ Life provides all I need to make another school lunch, wipe a tear or hug a grumpy family member.
Another calling is to my ministry of pastoral counseling. That isn’t easy either, and being a one-woman show means that there is a lot of accounting work, You-tubing videos on website design and figuring out why the email won’t work while wishing for an IT department. When I imagined this calling, I didn’t picture it this way. I envisioned a lot more amazing moments of revelation with people and mountain-top experiences of great change. And there are those moments, but I can see Jesus in all of it if I look. Not just the grand and seemingly important times, but also the small, daily tasks.
If my perspective shifts, I can choose to not play the victim about my callings. My kids and husband did not happen to me. My ministry did not happen to me. God chose them for me, and I chose to be in them. And that means that each of these places is the best place for me to know Jesus and to grow, including a botched camping trip where family time became holding kids on the couch while they were sick. So, I will not shy away from the hard callings or the drudgery of the menial callings. I will walk into them in the strength of my Risen Lord who has chosen to provide all I need for each calling.
I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. I am convinced that my God will fully satisfy every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches of glory revealed to me through the Anointed One, Jesus Christ! Philippians 4:12-13, 19