When you hear God is calling you, how do you usually respond?
Do you tend to tune Him out or do you lean in even more?
Maybe the even bigger question is… how do you know God is calling you?
This is a question I’ve wrestled with for the majority of my life until I had a breakthrough in my relationship with God. For so many years, I felt like God’s presence was so quiet and distant.
I would cry out to Him in frustration asking what He wanted from me and what I should be doing with my life.
I was angry, impatient, and tired of waiting for an answer or just some sign to point me in the right direction.
But actually the whole time, God had been orchestrating everything that was going on in my life. When I say his timing is perfect, I mean it.
So let me tell you a bit of my story and how I knew God was calling me back to Him after ignoring Him for so long.
my story: How i heard god calling me
The reason why I started this blog was because I had reached one of the lowest points in my life. I had gotten out of a relationship with someone I thought was going to be the man God planned for me.
But looking back, the breakup was a blessing in disguise. I had grown distant from God and realized how much I desired control over my circumstances.
I was living abroad for 1.5 years to “figure out” my life (quarter life crisis lol) and was reluctant to go home. I was so anxious about my future the whole time in my relationship and would constantly depend on my ex to provide reassurance and seek validation.
Instead of having God fill my cup, I was having someone else do it for me.
When I had that relationship stripped from me, I realized how deep in sin I was.
There was no way that I would’ve answered God’s call or heard Him if I had still been in a relationship with my ex. It took me to get to my lowest point to cry out to God and fully surrender my heart to Him.
I always wondered what God’s voice sounded like and how people knew it was from Him. I used to think something was wrong with me and would get frustrated because I couldn’t relate to other people’s experience with God.
What I realized is that God speaks to each of us differently.
Whether it’s through Scripture, worship songs, the church, or our circle of friends and family, God does speak to us intimately and personably.
But often times we don’t hear him because we’re so distracted by the things around us.
Through my heartbreak, I had no one to lean on but God. And so it was through Him, that I started to rekindle my relationship with Him.
my story: the unexpected
So how did I know that God was calling me to do something? I specifically remember one day, I had the random thought of going back to graduate school. There was absolutely no way this was from me, guys.
I actually moved abroad so that I could figure out my life and not pursue graduate school. It was something that my parents had wanted for me to do. While abroad, I even told my parents that I was not going to grad school for speech therapy.
All along, I believed that was what my parents wanted for me, not what I wanted for myself. I truly believed that God had a different career path planned out for me – after all, I always wanted to be my own boss for the longest time. I wanted to work for myself, so I felt like this was not aligned with what I wanted.
Notice how many times I used “I”, lol. Man, God was humbling me through this whole season of my life!
So when that thought was planted in my heart to go back to graduate school, I was like heck no. I felt incapable and uncertain about whether or not this was the right path.
But it suddenly hit me. So many of the decisions I had made, from moving abroad to not pursuing grad school, it was all because I was afraid.
I can’t even tell you the multiple conversations I’ve had with friends and strangers telling them that speech therapy was not for me, lol. And so again, this was not a thought that I wanted for myself. If anything, thinking about it made me fearful but the idea just kept growing.
I prayed about it and asked God why He wanted me to go back to this field. And I so vividly heard him tell me not to be afraid and to trust in Him.
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
Isaiah 41:10
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
As I’m typing this, I’ll be heading back to my home country very soon with plans to go back to my field.
I never, ever thought I would go back, haha.
But God’s timing and his ways are not mine. To me, that’s a blessing!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
Isaiah 55:8-9
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
When I fully surrendered my plans for His, He spoke so loudly that I just couldn’t ignore what He was calling me to do. Even with fear, I knew deep down that this was God calling me.
Oddly enough, I also felt so much peace knowing that even despite my fear, God’s got me.
The truth is, He’s got you, too!
Whatever worries and fears you’re feeling, just know that God can handle it.
Realize that nothing is too big for Him to carry.
We’re not living for ourselves
When you start to see the bigger picture that we’re actually not living for ourselves, it’s so much easier to answer and obey His call!
Our lives are not our own.
We belong to God and will one day be reunited with Him. With that in mind, know that our time here is temporary.
Although our time is temporary, the decisions we make matter. Will we choose to obey or turn away from God?
Sisters, I encourage you to change your perspective on how you respond to God’s calling for you.
When we know that we can’t take anything like fame, people’s validation of us, success, money, clothes, and earthly things with us to Heaven, then maybe we actually don’t have to try to have everything within our control.
We can become more attuned to the voice of God and stop letting the distractions of this world consume us.
remove distractions
Do you have any distractions that have been getting in the way of your time with God?
It’s time to get honest with yourself. I’m not saying to shame yourself or make yourself feel worse.
If anything, if there are distractions that you’ve become aware of… bring that to God.
Or ask God to reveal these distractions to you and He will make it clear for you!
Ask God to strip these distractions from you, even if it might be difficult.
Is it Instagram? Social media in general? Can you uninstall it temporarily?
Is it how much time you spend on your phone? Can you set a time limit or put it in another room when you’re spending time with God?
Or maybe these distractions are even more subtle. I’m speaking from experience, ya’ll.
I’m someone who thinks a lot. About the future, my to-do list, my relationships, and the list goes on.
Thoughts can actually be a distraction from spending time with God!
How much more time do we spend worrying about our future than praying to God? How often do we listen to music on our commute rather than talking to God?
Again, I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty! If anything, I still wrestle with this, but it does put into perspective that distractions are EVERYWHERE!
They’re outside of us and even within us – in our own minds.
So how do we remove these distractions? We bring them to God!
Let God in on what’s going on in your life. He already knows, but these moments are perfect for drawing closer to Him.
god is calling you to lean in
When a trusted friend affirms something God has put on your heart or a Bible verse resonates deeply with you, continue to lean in.
God is creative and speaks to everyone differently. So if you hear Him speaking to you, lean into His presence.
Continue to read His Word because that is the way you will really get to know Him.
The more you get to know God, the more you will begin to trust Him, and as you start to trust Him, you’ll start to obey and follow Him.
After all, how can you trust someone if you don’t know him? How can you know someone’s voice is you don’t take time to recognize and spend time with him?
The same goes for your relationship with God!
As you continue to know Him more, His voice will start to become louder and more obvious.
“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4
So if God is calling you to do something, don’t be afraid!
He gave you a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline, not of fear. Just know that you’re not alone!
I hope you enjoyed this post – if you did, let me know in the comments below.
I’d also love to chat, so feel free to email me if you’d like. God bless, sisters! 🙂
you may also like
HOW TO STOP BEING A LUKEWARM CHRISTIAN AND BE ON FIRE FOR GOD
HOW TO TRUST GOD AFTER A BREAKUP
HOW TO GIVE UP CONTROL TO GOD AND LET GO
HOW TO BUILD A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
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