A Surprising Truth for When God Calls You
When God calls you to follow him, he offers something more powerful than a plan. Today we’ll uncover a surprising truth about God’s calling for us. I invite you to join our family in the woods on a cool spring morning. We’ll talk about what it means to be called by God.
A Surprising Truth for When God Calls You
We go to the woods on a spring morning as birdsong rises and falls from the spruce tree behind our house. When we reach the valley, the little one dips his brand-new net into sulfuric black swamp mud, and I resist the urge to tell him to keep his net clean. Ridiculous, I tell myself. Nets were made to be dirtied.
He’s indulging in his twentieth dip when something catches my eye.
Dozens of tiny green plants emerge from a patch of bare earth beside me.
These tiny white beacons are among the first signs of spring.
I listen to the spring peepers chirp about love and life, and this season of new beginnings reminds me of God’s calling for my life: The highest calling on my life is to go lower for the sake of love.
The highest calling on my life is to go lower for the sake of love. #calledbyGod #calling Click To TweetWhen God Calls You, He Often Leads You Lower
The month of March annually reminds me of this truth as the world is painted with life from the earth to the sky: from the lowest place first. Growth happens in the hidden darkness of obscurity.
The morning after our trek into the woods, I read the following words:
“Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.” Psalm 138:6
It’s one of those mornings when it feels like these words have been whispered directly to my heart from heaven: God attends to the lowly.
The original language tells us that he regards the lowly. He sees them. He knows them.
The lowly aren’t the ones the world most often regards, sees, and knows. They aren’t the people who are exalted by worldly standards. The word for lowly here is shaphal, which translates as abased, humble, low, lower, lowest, lowly.
Lowly, like these tiny flowers emerging from dark soil.
God’s Calling Most Often Starts Small
In a few weeks, the tallest maples in this forest will display lush summer foliage. In the same way, there might come a day when God calls us to go to the masses and serve him in a way that is seen by the whole world. Until then, let’s not lose heart: small beginnings matter.
Quiet and humble work matters deeply. It matters to the people you serve. It matters to God, and it builds your character.
These hard days are valuable days. These sleepless nights are doing work in your heart. These gutting-it-out weeks of just putting one foot in front of the other a thousand times without a soul in the world acknowledging your effort are of vital importance.
Perhaps you’re wrestling with your calling today. If so, let’s soak in a few Truths for when God calls you to follow him:
God won’t call you to prove yourself; instead, he’ll call you to humbly love others.
God isn’t calling you to prove you’re smart, wise, or spiritual. He isn’t calling you to win every argument with your spouse or your boss. God isn’t calling you to parent perfectly or serve flawlessly.
He is calling you to love others as well as you can. Here. Now. Like this. Imperfectly. Whole-heartedly.
God won’t call you to be noticed; instead, he will call you to serve humbly.
I’ll never forget watching the memorial service for the late President George Bush. One of the speakers reminded us of a truism held dear by the President: We are to use our power to help others.
The gifts God offers us are not for showing off, making names for ourselves, or building our own empires.
Our gifts are to be used to help others. This is how we give God glory by bending lower.
When God calls you, he asks for your dependence.
The humble recognize their deep and constant need for God’s hand and God’s help in their lives. This is what it means to be lowly.
We acknowledge the deep need for One who will lead and guide us. We remain dependent upon him in a world where independence is praised. The lowly stay close to God. They lean in. They draw near.
God isn’t calling you to do this life on your own. He is calling you to stay close to him, lean on him, and follow him into hard places where you absolutely could not make it without him.
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Calling all mothers and daughters!
Additionally, my 12-year-old daughter, Bekah, and I wrote a mother-daughter devotional book to help mothers and daughters grow closer together while connecting with God. Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith includes 60 devotions with Scripture, commentaries from both of us, conversation starters, and even a shared journaling section. Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by this book! You can find your free Kindle Unlimited eBook or buy it in print for just 11.99 right here.
