#91: Pastor Laura: Everything you ever wondered about a "calling"
Even if you don't have a religious bone in your body, you won't want to miss this episode. We're all here with various gifts and talents to be used while we're alive. How the heck do you figure out what you're supposed to be doing? What if that "something" no longer feels right? How do you know it's time to pivot? Laura shares her own journey from music history to ministry with honesty about all the ups and downs of feeling pulled towards one thing and having it lead to a dead end or change into a new calling.
Reflect on what it is you want to do with your life and whether that aligns with your day job. If it doesn't, you might need to look for another job or find a way to incorporate it in your free time.
When you're not where you're supposed to be, you might experience an intense feeling of being out of alignment or feel miserable all the time. Laura felt like she was being crushed, and eventually she couldn't stand it anymore.
Pay attention if other people start asking you about a particular career path, talent, or calling. If you're not already doing whatever it is they're noticing about you, it's time to reevaluate.
Here are some ways you might realize you're being called to something different: You feel awful most of the time, you're having a lot of conflict in your life/career, you feel annoyed and irritated with things in your career that you used to be fine with, or you feel weighted down.
When contemplating leaving one job or calling and moving towards another, it's good to take some time to reflect on it, pray about it, and really discern if it's you wanting out of your current situation or if it's a power greater than you calling you to this new thing. Pray open ended prayers. Pay attention. Pay attention to the way doors are opening and closing
A calling might not make sense, like why you'd end up living in a particular place (like Missouri) instead of the place that makes sense
Our callings will change and we'll go through different seasons of calling. God will call you and you can be un-called, but it's important to leave the lines of communication open, ie, be quiet enough to listen
Knowing if you're supposed to leave/move or change, especially if you're unhappy, can be hard. You have to be able to know if this is hard season and you're in the "wilderness" vs this is destructive and harmful for you. Ask yourself it the struggle feels like it's building you into a stronger person or if it's tearing you down. Another way to tell is if you're seeing fruits from where God planted you, this is a sign you're probably in the right place for now.
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https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/recharting-your-life-with-hope-get-unstuck-and/id1540607477