Have you ever asked yourself what your life would have been like had you not answered God’s call?
I have.
When I was a high school senior, Miss Hamilton, my counselor, strongly suggested my aptitude was for a teaching career. “But I’d like to be a nurse,” I answered.
“Yes, Joanne, but all of your testing shows you would make a wonderful teacher.”
I pushed back. “My heart is really more like Cherry Ames, Student Nurse (a popular book series for girls in the 1940s-50s). I love to help sick people. I think I’d make a better nurse.”
Despite my protests, Miss Hamilton won. I enrolled in the University of Wisconsin in Madison, as an English major with an Education minor. Then I moved to California, where I completed my California teaching credential and taught school for four years before having children, then taught Lamaze childbirth classes for four years.
Yet I never lost my heart for nursing.
Stay the Course and He Will Guide
“I AM the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.”—John 10:14-15
God’s fingerprints were on my calling “to bless and to heal.” I didn’t need to be in a hospital to give God’s blessings and heal those I met.
Not until later, when God called me to be a wife and a mother, did I see He had already prepared me with teaching and nursing skills that would serve me well in motherhood!
As a young mom, I was aware of God’s hand on my life and that of my family. I often, read God’s command to Joshua to build a monument off the banks of the Jordan River that would remind the people of God’s awesome power. I promised myself to build a similar tower of rocks in our backyard, a visual testimony to our daughters of all the times God had been faithful in our lives. But I never got around to it. So when my “fresh calling” came to write a book about God’s faithfulness, Stones in the River is the title that immediately came to mind.
I had prayed to write a book for years, but God had never revealed if or what that would look like.
Taking me from Newport Beach to Kingsburg had indeed enlarged my territory and given me a God-sized assignment.
What would God have me do with all this learning and preparation?
I didn’t have the answer; I only knew that life with Him is always an adventure!
Learning to Listen
How do we recognize God’s call? How do we know His voice? We first look to where He has already spoken—His written Word divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit speaking through His prophets and disciples—the Bible. If we desire to hear God’s voice, we must be familiar with His Word, for He never contradicts His written revelation in the Bible.
Prepare your heart each day before you open His Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s truth to you, to hear His voice deep within your spirit. Reading God’s Holy Word washes our minds of daily stress and clears out worry. It paves the way for our inner spirit to develop a relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
“Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” —John 8:47
Cultivate a heart that listens. Be silent and still. We who belong to God hear what He says. He knows our thoughts, our fears, our deep longings. We can trust He will never take us where it isn’t safe to go. He guides and teaches us His way. He sets the stones in our river to teach us, train us, and grow us into fully mature women of God. The more time you spend listening to God as you read the Bible, the closer you will become with Him.
A Personal Tip
God speaks to us not only through His Word, but also through our thoughts, our spirits, our conversations with others, and circumstances.
If you do not currently keep a spiritual journal, I encourage you to start.
It is a great way to record thoughts God brings to your mind. When I read His Word, I like writing what God is saying to me directly into the margins of my Bible. I also keep a journal beside me to write down how He is leading me to pray. I keep a separate list of people He brings to mind. As I see the direction the Spirit is leading me to pray, I begin to get a clear idea of what He is saying to me. Then I respond in faith and obedience.
When I look back on those journals now, I see so clearly how God was preparing me! It is a faith-building blessing to see God’s loving-kindness and faithful provision in our daily lives.
If you look, you will see God’s fingerprints in the detail of each day, whether in answered prayer or some other blessing. You will also experience His teaching, encouragement, comfort, and confirmation of His plans and purpose for your life.
Spiritual Warriors Are Always In Demand
Our spiritual life is not built in a day but is laid daily, stone by stone.
We grow in the Lord by daily discipline and acts of obedience until we love to do His will, giving all praise, honor, and glory to Him. Whatever our age, He imparts what we need to be all we can be at that time. Ask God to grow your faith, as well as the faith of those you love.
Be a great person of prayer.
Even if you are finished with full-time parenting or are not a parent at all, your family needs you to be a prayer warrior.
The Lord already knows what we need, but when we commune with our Holy Father in Heaven, we are offering our need to Him. In turn, our love and adoration of Him develops humility, patience, and rest in Him. Philippians 4:4-8 is one of my life verses:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. —Philippians 4:4-8
God will supply all the wisdom, strength, and beauty of soul that you need for your fresh calling. He faithfully goes before us to give us courage to accomplish His plans. Spend time with Him so He can give you courage. Only God’s Word gives life. Take advantage of this privilege!
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