“Calling” is a buzzword, both inside and sometimes outside of Christian circles. People sometimes seem to be obsessed with “finding your calling,” whether life or career coaches promising to help you find it, those in ministry talking about following God’s call on their life, or the common phrase that someone “missed their calling.”
But what even is calling?
First of all, we all have a general calling. That call is to God. We’re called to follow Him.
Honestly, we could stop right there. No matter what else we do, everything falls under this general calling that every human has received. But I think we need to go deeper. What does it mean to follow God in our everyday lives? What does that calling look like?
I think, when we stop to think about what this means, we might say that our calling is to bear the image of God. In our broken world, we are to reflect His goodness. We’re called to cultivate His creation, to live with love and integrity, to be pockets of the kingdom of God and the goodness and beauty He intended. We are called to restoration.
Obviously, this is incredibly broad. How each person lives out making the world a more beautiful and Christlike place is going to be very different. So that’s where we move past general calling and into specific calling.
We each have a place in the world, a place where we feel God wants us, though it may shift from season to season. 1 Corinthians 12 discusses how the Lord appointed His people to different roles. Paul describes us as the body of Christ, with each part of the body functioning as a necessary role. All very different, but all important.
I knew since before kindergarten that I was passionate about stories and books. Others of us may have gone through college, through years of working odd jobs, and still not feel like we know what our calling is, where we fit in the world. Maybe you feel depressed, or lost, or stressed about finding what God wants for you.
I think this is because we have an incomplete view of calling.
Calling doesn’t mean a job. Sure, it’s great if what you love also makes money, but that’s not always going to be the case. Calling is where you’re meant to be, where you’re meant to bring beauty and goodness to this world.
We have a calling to family, to friends, to ministry, to volunteer work. Maybe to painting or singing or sewing or any number of things you might do “for fun” while working a different job to pay the bills. At the end of the day, we are called to live faithfully in the now, bringing light, hope, and beauty to whatever situation we find ourselves in.
When we talk about calling, we also often connect it to ministry, whether someone is called to pastoral or missions work. And yes, that is where God calls some people. But it isn’t the only valid or worthwhile call.
Calling is about making the world a more beautiful place, about bringing about rightness in your sphere. It’s about bringing the kingdom, bringing goodness and integrity and hope and joy, wherever you go.
Calling is the juncture where the broken or needy places in this world, your skills and giftings, and your passions overlap.
Maybe your calling right now is to parenthood, or taking care of an aging family member, or education, or your current job. Maybe your calling is to serve God there. But that doesn’t mean it can’t change. Maybe you sense something else is your calling, but you’re not participating in it right now—for example, spending years in school to pursue the field you feel God has called you to. But in this moment, you are called to integrity in both your current situation, and in stewarding the future, while keeping in mind that it may change.
We also have to keep in mind that being true to our calling and succeeding in the eyes of the world are two different things. If we are being faithful in what we have been given, we are following His call.
In my newest book with Hope Bolinger, our main characters struggle with definitions of success. Together, they must learn that whether it’s big or small, it’s always a success if we follow God’s call.
Alyssa Roat grew up in Tucson, Arizona, but her heart is in Great Britain. She has worked in a wide variety of roles within the publishing industry as an agent, editor, writer, and marketer. She is the publicity manager at Mountain Brook Ink and Mountain Brook Fire, a former associate literary agent at Cyle Young Literary Elite, an editor with Sherpa Editing Services, and a freelance writer with 250+ bylines in local, national, and international publications.
Alyssa is the co-author with Hope Bolinger of the upcoming Roseville Romances series. Her name is a pun, which means you can learn more about her at www.alyssawrote.com or on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as @alyssawrote.
Can a struggling career woman and a procrastinating artist save a beloved nonprofit?
Aspiring novelist Caroline Penn expected a promotion, not a picture book assignment. But when her employer, the non-profit Helping Hope, runs into financial trouble, this book might be the solution. With the company struggling to stay afloat, she and the illustrator will need to collaborate on a strict deadline—no problem for a workaholic like Caroline, right?
Andy Jackson, a “starving” artist, pays the bills by taking on graphic design gigs, but his perfectionism gets in the way. If only he could focus on a project for once, perhaps he could achieve his dream to make art for children for a living.
When the two are thrust together to create a book, Caroline can’t seem to write for children, and Andy can’t meet a deadline to save his life. As time ticks down to release day, the two must face their pasts and insecurities. If they can avoid strangling one another for long enough, they may just bring to the table what the other is missing.
If not, the fate of their careers—and a beloved nonprofit—hangs in the balance.
