The Call

It sounds so impressive, doesn't it? "God called me to be a missionary!" When I share my testimony with people, I use that phrase myself. 

"Five years ago, when I took Perspectives for the first time, God called me into full-time missions work." 

Most people just kind of let that phrase float on past. It is the kind of thing missionaries and "professional" ministers say, don't you know!

But a couple of weeks ago, someone called me on it and I'm glad she did. "What does that mean, exactly?" she asked. "How do you know that God called you? Did you have a dream or a vision or something?"

When we read about callings in the Bible, they are wonderful events. In Genesis we see God calling Abram to leave his home and go to a far-away land. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us exactly how God communicated with Abram, but the instructions were certainly very specific and Abram had no problem in knowing what he should do. When God called Moses into leadership by speaking to him through a burning bush, it was pretty convincing (even though Moses tried to argue his way out of it). Prophets had ongoing conversations with God about what they should do and specifically what they should say to Israel. And perhaps the most famous call of all was to Paul in Acts 9 on the road to Damascus where God communicated through a blinding light and a voice from heaven. Although we don’t always see the specifics of the call itself, God always shows us the results…His people start moving.

Well, I didn’t get a burning bush, or a shining angel giving me a scroll with exact directions, but God got me moving. It started with the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. This is 15 week-long course that starts with 5 weeks exploring the Biblical basis for missions. As I saw God’s passion for the nations, my “perspective” was changed forever…God gave me a new set of glasses and a longing to be a part of what He was doing in the world. When we studied the history of missions and people groups, my heart broke for unreached people of the world and I found myself asking God what I could do to help reach them. We studied about Christianity in cultures that are so very different than our Western ways, and I saw that God created the variety and loved it. I wanted to experience it all. And then the clincher...strategy…my eyes were popping and my jaw was dropping as I learned about all the new and wonderfully creative ways God was showing us how to reach His people. I was full of excitement as I thought, “I could do that!! Yes, even I could do that!” And God answered, “Yes, you could.”

So that’s the story of my “calling.” God putting first knowledge, then understanding into my head, followed by joy and excitement, and culminating in hope that was validated when a mission agency, BEE World, said, “Yes, Merrikay, we feel confident that you will make a great contribution to the ongoing work of BEE World.” 

Have you experienced a calling on your life? I'd encourage you to spend some time thinking and praying about it. I think most of us have; we may have just not defined it as such. If you feel like you are where God wants you right now, then you are probably living out his calling. Spend some time defining it. Write your own mission statement and share it with your spouse and/or family. And if you don't have peace right now...maybe God is in the process of calling you to something new. Be sure to listen.