Saturday, April 21, 2012

Live As You Are Called

Are you living as you were called?
“Only let each person lead the life that the LORD has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.”  I Cor. 7:17


"What are you going to be when you grow up?”


“What will you do after college?”


So many people ask these questions, and they are normal questions to ask.  Yet, there is also a certain pressure to give the “correct” answer.  And, if you are a girl it can become even harder.
I remember being in high school with the pressure to answer these questions.  We had to take test in school to find out what our strengths were so that the counselors could “help” us map out our future.  I tested high in (your going to laugh)....


Child Development 
and
I loved Landscape Architecture


So I followed the “wisdom” of the advisors and went to college for a few years.  I enjoyed some of it, hated other parts of it.  I really felt that I was wasting my time and my money, but this was what I was suppose to do, right?  I finally took a break from the whole college thing to work and earn money, thinking I would finish up my degree later when I could afford it.  
I desperately wanted to move to the mountains, so packing up my little Ford truck, and headed to Colorado.  Long story short, God had a plan.  I finally met my husband, married and began a family.  
Years later, one of the children asked me “the” question;
“Mommy, what did you want to be when you grew up?”


All these years later, I finally had the wisdom, and the courage to answer this question truthfully.


“I always to be a mommy to a lot of little darlin’s!”  
I think someone chuckled and said something along the lines of, “Well, that's good, since that is what you are.”
Why is it that being married, serving my family, and being a mommy aren’t good enough answers for most people?
I have an opinion here of course, but it isn’t the point of this post.  
Well, then, what is my point? 
As Christians, I believe that we must encourage those younger than us to seek the LORD’s plans for their lives!  Boy or girl, the LORD does have a purpose for their lives.  The Bible gives plenty of guidance, as does the leading of the Holy Spirit.  I saw it in Jace.  He was a young man ready to live his life.  We had trained him that a man should work to support himself and his family.  He should use his God given strengths and gifts to serve the LORD and those around him.  At eighteen he left home, and he was ready for whatever his future was.  He did go to college and will graduate this summer.  (And, yes, I am very proud of him.)  He is married now, and takes responsibility for himself, his family and his work - the way a man should.  Most of us can agree with this with a hearty “Amen”.  
And Kalyn?  What about her?  She has graduated from high school, and there have been questions for years actually that have caused a certain amount of pressure for her.  Of course the questions are normal and to be expected, asked with love and interest; desires to encourage and support her on the next leg of her journey.  Still, the pressure has been there, because she doesn’t feel that she is to follow the “normal”.  Ultimately, she believes what she has learned in the Bible and from her walk with the LORD.  She feels in her heart that it is a noble and good thing to be a woman who will someday marry and care for her family.  So why is it harder for a girl to give that as an answer?  Sadly, it just doesn’t seem to be “good enough”.  She has also wanted to be a missionary since she was 5 years old, and told me in no uncertain terms.  See, she really has always known deep down.
And now my job as her mother is to encourage her, to support her, and to remind her to live as she is called by the LORD, her God.  
I also find encouragement for myself as I read the above verse.  I once told my mother, as we were bringing home our last two children, that “yes”, it is hard, but I just feel that I was born to do this work.  
So for you, who ever you are today, seek the Lord for the answers to your questions.  Seek HIIM,
and LIVE AS YOU ARE CALLED.

17 comments:

  1. Agreed! But what's hard is knowing your calling...feeling that passion in your heart, but not being "allowed" to follow it. The waiting part is difficult...waiting for God to reveal His plan.

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  2. For Kalyn....it seems to me...that is being a biggest sister in a family full of youngers with hearts that are healing and minds and bodies that are recovering from environments of the past, that God has placed you in an amazing "mission field" right in your own home. What you are learning now...will surely serve you well in whatever role, whatever place He sends you later. Don't stress about the question of "what are you going to do" now that you have graduated high school...you are where you are needed right NOW! Find peace in knowing you will take that step into other places of the world when HE says "go"...not when the world thinks it's time! Blessings, Jennifer

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  3. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Very encouraging!
    Yes, born to do this work!

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  4. Amen, Amen, Amen!

    What a great post!

    I had two visions of myself. The one I really wanted and the one that I was supposed to tell everyone!
    In fact I may have to post on this too and link it to yours!

    I know I am doing what God has created me to do. IT IS HARD and because it is hard it causes me to lean on HIM every step of the way. I cannot do this with out HIM!

    Kalyn-Follow your heart as HIS spirit directs you!

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  5. Well said. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door shall be open. The pressure is immense for these young girls.

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  6. Amen! I was the first in my peers to "stay at home" and when answered what I planned to do I would say "take care of my kids and then hopefully be available for grandkids." That has always seemed to bother most.

    I really do think most people are not truly frustrated with choices out of the norm. but don't quite know what to do with it when they hear it.

    Keep following God Kalyn! Keep teaching your kids how to follow God Shonnie! Love ya'll!

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  7. Love it! AMEN!!! The hardest question I ever had answer in college was - what do you want to do? really all I wanted to do was to be a wife and mommy - but saying that sounded like I was on a hunt for a hubby - thankfully God brought my hubby into my life when I wasn't even looking! :)

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  8. Shonni,

    Thank you SO much for this! What an encouragement to us as parents to continue to pray for and talk to our children about following God's call on their lives rather than the cultural norms, their own ideas, or our ideas for them!

    Love,
    Jen

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  9. Amen

    Though both my older girls have gone to college and graduated. I remember the talk with both of them about doing what they loved, not what would fit into a box. Also not building up a lot of debt that would hinder them as they followed God's leading.

    One daughter studied history, her life-long love, and has been working as a curator! She has enjoyed it, but now as she is half way through her first pregnacy she can relax and look forward to being a stay at home mom because there were no college debts.

    The other daughter studied anthropology because of her life-long love of cultures. She is presently following her husband around the states as he serves in the armed forces and works with developmentaly disabled children. She also enjoys having no college debt to pay.

    It is possible to encourage our children to follow the Lord and their dreams without gambling their futures with debt and a job they do not love.

    Go for it Kayln, follow your heart, seek the Lord and He will NOT lead you astray.

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    Replies
    1. GREAT point, Donna, about encouraging our children (both boys and girls) NOT to saddle themselves with college debt. My young adult children have been free to travel the world, because they have not been forced to stay home and work in order to pay off debt.

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  10. Amen, Sister! I never dreamed I would have so much satisfaction and joy from being "Just" a wife and a mama. It is a high calling - and one that I never will regret. Love, Chenning

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  11. Shonni, thank you so much for this post! I know exactly what you mean about seeming as though your calling as a wife and mother is "not enough". How sad that I still struggle with my calling.

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  12. Thank you, thank you for this reminder today! It is so easy to listen to the world that tells me I'm wasting my talents and education by staying at home. I wanted to be a teacher for a long time, but like you, I wanted to be a mommy even longer...

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  13. Love it!! Thank you for getting this out there. My oldest sounds a lot
    like your daughter! She has about two more yrs of school, but the questions are already coming. I read recently that instead of asking what someone "wants to be," we should be asking, "What do you think God wants you to be?"

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  14. Amen!

    We have always told our children that our hopes and dreams for them are to ...

    ... follow the Lord

    ... follow their dreams (given by the Lord)

    ... pursue their passions

    I, too, went to college because that was "what I should do". Then, I became the total black sheep of the family when I dropped out of college to get married and start a family. "What a waste." they all said. Even after 8 or 10 kids, I still had family members asking, "When are you going to finish college?" to which I would laughingly respond, "when I have a little spare time". I will never fulfill my family's dreams for my life ... yet I am certain that I am living the dreams that the Lord gave me when I was a very young girl. And, that is all that matters.

    Kalyn ... Congrats on completing high school. I pray that you will Dream Big ... Pursue your Passions ... and Go After whatever the Lord puts in front of you. He has GREAT plans for your life. Don't allow others to put their expectations on you as to what you "should do", but seek the LORD and HIS will ... because only HIS expectations matter.

    Hugs to both of you!!!


    Laurel

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