Receive Your Calling

“You’ve been called...it’s true

You’ve been called...you can

You’ve been called...grab hold

You’ve been called...so go”

Loren Thornburg

Everyone has a calling. Yes, that means you! We all have different callings. Often we think of callings as our jobs or vocation which is a part of it, but there is more. Calling is more than just what we do, but who we are. You may be called to be a leader but this can be leading a household, leading a group of friends, leading in the workplace, or leading with the job title. Regardless of the job title a leader is called to lead. Now we may be called to a specific vocation like to be doctors and lawyers but even still we are called to be that in different ways because we are each different and unique. There is no set way, no set rules, except that you have to receive it. No one else can fulfill it quite like you have been called to. So you must embrace first that you have been called, that you can because you’ve been called, and go then go with it. You’ve been called...so go.

“Are you called to be a speaker? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies through Jesus Christ. All glory and power belong to him forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11 NLT

God is calling you. Even in the midst of not knowing your calling He is calling you. He is calling you to be you in the places He has placed you right now. A new season may be coming but right now He has called you. What is He calling you to in this place? Whatever it is, do it as though He were doing it through you...because He is. Do it as though He is giving you all you need to do it...because He is. Whether He is calling you to step out into something big and scary or calling you to wait and rest, He is calling you to that place and will provide you with all you need, so let Him. Receive your calling as if God Himself were calling you...since He is. Since He is calling you, since He is doing it, since He is giving you all you need then give Him the glory. Give glory where glory belongs. All glory and power belong to Him, the One who is calling you.

Purpose Now

“There is pain now but there is purpose now.”

Loren Thornburg

You have purpose now. Even if you’ve made a huge mistake, even if you find yourself in the middle of divorce, even if you’re in the midst of sadness, even if you don’t have a job, even if you’re single, even if you’re lonely in the absence of people you love, even if your world seems to be falling apart, even if nothing major is going on, even there you have purpose still, even now you have purpose. Pain and purpose can coexist. However, sometimes it seems as if they are oil and vinegar at polar opposites. Pain seems so often to bring confusion and disillusion which are not words often used in a time where we see purpose. Our attention gets focused on the pain, unable to see past it. However, our not seeing purpose does not keep it from us. It’s like walking with your headphones on where all you can hear is your music unable to hear the sounds of your surroundings. It can be so hard to see past the pain to the purpose that is going on deeper beyond the surface. Regardless of the headphones of pain you find yourself in there is still purpose in where you are and where you are going. You still have purpose beyond the pain. You have purpose now.

“So if you are suffering according to God’s will, keep on doing what is right and trust yourself to the God who made you, for he will never fail you.”

1 Peter 3:15 NLT

Peter is writing to encourage the people in their persecution and the pain of the persecution that makes it easy to give up in their faith. Although we may not face the same persecution, the struggle to see past our situation to our God still remains for us today. Thus, we can take the same encouragement that Peter spoke many years ago. Even now God will never fail you. He made you. Who better to trust you with then the One who made you and therefore knows you? He not only knows who you are and what is going on in your life but He knows your heart, your thoughts, your dreams, your desires. He made you on purpose for a purpose even now. You have purpose now. You can trust Him now. He will never fail you, not even now.

Covered isn't Clean

“Don’t just cover it, clean it.”

Loren Thornburg

To drink out of a dirty jar you first must clean it. I wouldn’t just fill the dirty jar with clean water thinking it would cover up the dirtiness. Similarly, to heal a dirty wound you couldn’t just put a bandaid over it. Although that might protect it from additional infection it would only keep the current infectious elements closed up for further infection. Yet we try to do this with our lives. We just put a bandaid over the wound or try to get clean water from a dirty jar. We want to just cover it up rather than deal with the dirt, the wound, and what is causing the infection. Sometimes we even use things that are good to cover it up, but good isn’t best and covered isn’t always clean. This is true of our hearts and minds. Unless we get rid of the hurt and lies you will never be the clean and free as you were intended to be. The problem with only covering is that it doesn’t go away. It comes up and out in different ways and eventually it can grow to something bigger than a bandaid can cover. So deal with it from the inside out.

“What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new true life.”

Psalm 51:6 MSG

God is after truth from the inside out. He can see past whatever we try to use to cover things up and He is not impressed nor is He fooled. He not only desires that we proclaim what is true but also that we confess and get rid of that which is not true. It’s good to have that which is true on our lips and in our thoughts, but it is better when those things dwell in our depths as well. The only way to do that is to let Jesus come in, to enter us, and fill us from the inside out. He loves to do this. When we confess the lies and things we are holding onto which are not true He has more room to enter with all His truth and new life. Let His truth reign from the inside out.

Worth the Wait

“Short cuts only cut short the joy of the destination.”

Loren Thornburg

Many times in my impatience of a long line of cars and foreseeing having to wait I take the more appealing shorter line of cars going a different direction, thinking it will be quicker, but very rarely is this the case. Usually in my unwillingness to wait for a moment in that place I end up taking longer to get to my destination. After doing this recently I was reminded that I do the same things in life. My unwillingness to wait and my anxiousness to have things settled take me the long way to the place I want to be. There are many things that we are waiting for...a job, a promotion, a spouse, restoration, healing, resolution, and on and on. It can be so tempting in our frustration with the slowness of the process to find ways to cut it short and take it into our own hands. We take a job that isn’t a good fit, we cheat our way to promotion, we date someone we know isn’t right, we give up on our dreams and relationships. It may work for a while but we have traded in something more for something less because we were not willing to wait. When we are willing to wait we find the fullness of that which we have been waiting for. We find that which is real and good and lasting because we were willing to wait for the real thing. Wait for it...it’s worth the wait.

“Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of Him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.”

Psalm 37:7 AMP

The Lord is always worth the wait. Yet, in the midst of waiting I can’t say that I always agree with His timing, but what I find later is that He moves at just the right time, in just the right way. Not only will it be worth the wait but He is a God worth waiting on. It just takes much patience. It’s so easy for me to look around and see people who have that which I want. Then I become quick to question God and His timing, wondering why I don’t have that thing that they have that I’ve been wanting and waiting and asking for, looking at all the reasons I deserve and desire that thing. Yet so often what I thought I wanted pales in comparison to what God has for me. As you are waiting for your dreams and desires wait foremost on the Lord. Lean yourself upon Him...He is always worth the wait.

Back to Front

“Sometimes the best way to move forward is to go back...back to the joy of why you first began.”

Loren Thornburg

We get lost. Lost in the work, lost in the motions, lost in the details, so lost that we forget why we even began. It’s that feeling when you enter a room knowing you came for a reason but unsure of why. When that happens to me I have to go back to the room I started in to remember why I went to the other room in the first place. Similarly we have to do that with our lives. We have to go back to where we started to know why we got started. Often our dreams are filled with many steps between starting and living it and it’s easy to get lost in the middle if we are not willing to go back to why we began. We have to bring the joy of that dream to the front of our minds and let that joy push us forward. For when joy is lost so is our strength to continue. Go back and let the joy that started you keep you going.

“The joy of the Lord is our strength”

Nehemiah 8:10

God is constantly calling us back. Back to Him! For He knows that in coming back to Him we will find all that we need. God knows exactly what we need and when we need it. He knows we need the strength that comes in His joy. This strength is not so much our own being strong as it is a place of safety, refuge and protection. It is the joy of the Lord that brings us protection that allows us to be strengthened. This joy is different from just being happy but a deep, sustainable gladness that moves us to rejoicing, not changed by circumstances, but found within regardless of what happens. There are many reasons to be discouraged and dismayed yet only one that can bring us joy in the midst of these and that is the Lord. So it is by our Lord and our joy in Him that we find the place of strength to endure in the midst of hardship. Just as Nehemiah encouraged the people into joy so hear his words encouraging you. There is joy in the Lord and it gives great strength!

Present but Unseen

“There is more to the story than what you see, more to the picture than what appears, there is more going on than we know, look beyond, there is more.”

Loren Thornburg

Behind the scenes of a play there is so much going on. From set changes, to lights, to costumes, to direction; there are many people who are a big part in making the play happen that the audience never sees. Similarly is you look at the human body there is so much going on inside our bodies that we can’t see without the help of instruments and technology. Our bodies would not be what they are on the outside without all that is going on inside. We can’t see all that is really going on in our bodies, yet often in life we think that we do. We look at a situation and think we know all that is going on, we judge by appearance, or we get annoyed with people because of how they act. I’m sure we’ve all been on the receiving end of this thinking, ‘if they only knew what was really going on.’ Still there is more to our own stories than what we can see. People who have impacted and changed us in ways we haven’t seen, circumstances that have protected us in ways we didn’t know and thoughts and feelings that are shaping us in ways we aren’t aware of. Take time to look past what you’ve seen. You might find there is more to your story.

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive Him; on the left hand when He is working, I do not behold Him; He turns to the right hand, but I do not see Him, but He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

Job 23:8-10 ESV

There is always more to the story with God. Even in the devastations that Job faced God was present and working. So often in our lives we feel much like Job looking around seeing only hardship not perceiving God even in our looking for Him. Yet He is working and not just from a distance, but in our midst. Not only is He there, and not only is He working for our behalf, but He knows the way to lead us even without us seeing Him that will lead us to come out as gold. He knows how to turn our lives into shining stories. So if you are looking forward and you don’t see Him, looking backward and not perceiving Him, looking left and right and feeling He is not there know that He is working, know that He knows your way and your ways, and know that He shall bring you through and out as gold.

Too Important Not To

“Too important not to believe

Too important not to hope

Too important not to risk

Too important to miss

Love is.”

Loren Thornburg

You wouldn’t drive somewhere new without getting directions, or run without putting shoes on, or ride a bike without air in the tires. Those things are too important not to do. Yet why do we try to find joy in life without Love as our center? Sometimes I think we forget what is really too important not to do. The fear in our hearts and the things on our lists become more important than the people in our lives. Love really is the most important thing. It is too important to miss...but we do. We miss it through the other things that seem more important. Family is too important not to spend time with, friends are too important not to risk with, marriages are too important not to sacrifice on, relationships are too important not to believe in, and Love is too important not to hope in. Life is too important not to.

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome.”

Ephesians 3:12 NLT

God gladly welcomes us! Not because we have it all together but because He loves us just as we are. Now this is a lot to try to wrap our minds around because this is not how our world works. It looks different, feels different and tells us different. Yet this is true...You are welcomed into God’s presence. He loves you and loves for you to be with Him and of that you can be sure. This truth is too important not to trust. In spite of anything that tells you otherwise, makes it hard to believe, or fears that keep you at a distance, it’s too important to miss. For it is in this truth, in this love, in this assuredness that we can Love others and invite them into this same Love that frees us, saves us, loves us. So now let us believe in His unbelievable love for us because it’s too important not to.