By Chelsea Sherlock
A lot of my energy during college was used to try to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I knew what I wanted to study, but not what I wanted to do with it. Should I pursue working for a church or non-profit? Did I want to graduate school? Could I survive graduate school? Should I stay in the U.S. or go abroad? Was I being selfish if I went the corporate path? For most of senior year, I thought I had figured it out. My calling was overseas missions. I told people that was what I was doing. Then in March, three months before graduation, God said no. Suddenly I had to once again start looking for a job. When I was hired and started my current job, I thought that feeling of uncertainty would end. I was in the world of marketing. I’d made a decision and it was going well. For a brief period, I felt like I was I was doing what the King had planned for me as I settled into my apartment, got used to my position and invested in a small group through my church. Then those internal questions about what I'm doing with my life came back. Once again, I've been wrestling with the topic of "what do I want to do with my life?" and "what is God calling me to do with my time?" As I've talked to more people my age and further along in life, this seems like something that won't go away for a while. It's expected that in this stage of our life as young adults, we're going to be seekers for a while and will be on and off for the rest of our life. One of the best parts of this stage of our life is the amount of freedom we have to move to new areas, choose how we spend our free time, volunteer for a cause we care about, find a side hustle, and give financially. The downside of the freedom is that the amount of choices can diminish our certainty that we made the right choice. People in my life have provided needed guidance for moving forward in pursuit of God when things seem unclear, and I'd love to pass it on.... “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5. 1) God will direct you on your path. Pick a direction, move towards it and trust God to course correct as needed. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22:37-40 2) God's chief desire for his disciples is for them to love Him and love His people. If what you are passionate about what falls under those two commandments, it fits within God's will. We have room to choose based on our desires and preferences when the options don’t oppose God’s will. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” - 1 John 5:14 3) Pray. Speak with God, asking Him for guidance, sharing your frustration, confusion, excitement and any other thing you’re experiencing. Ask Him to provide opportunities and wise council. Yield your will to His. Ask for him to give you a sacrificial heart, wisdom and a willingness to embrace being uncomfortable. “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,” – Colossians 1:9-11 4) Know that God might not have something that seems impressive planned for this stage of your life. Jesus didn’t start his ministry until his thirties, which is around the same age David was when he became King, and Paul was when he became a Christian. Moses was 80 when he led the Israelites from Egypt. This might be a season of growth that prepares you for what God has next. There is no perfect strategy for knowing how to spend your time and money and what to pursue career-wise, but hopefully these will provide a good framework. For me they have been guidelines that have helped me go from just thinking about what I should do with my life to actually taking action - even if that action step is something small like emailing someone for more information, sending an application or choosing to go to an event or meeting. We have the freedom through trusting the Lord to try and fail and try and fail again as we pursue serving Him.
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by Joanna Meyer
reposted with Joanna's permission from Denver Institute for Faith and Work. I knew the January Women’s March had captured the national zeitgeist when photos of a high school friend wearing one of the infamous pink knit caps alongside his daughter appeared on Facebook. “Our house is filled with nasty women,” his sign proclaimed, one of millions of similar posters waving coast to coast. Who would have dreamed the Women’s March would become the largest protest gathering in U.S. history? What a spectacle! But after an initial wave of excitement, life moved on; the nation went back to the busyness of carpool runs, cat videos, and quarterly reports. As the intensity of the day faded, I wondered if the event accomplished what its organizers had hoped. Marchers experienced a cathartic outpouring of emotion, but would that expression lead to action? Could the solidarity formed on a single day produce lasting change? Seeing the emotion of the women’s march fade reinforced my conviction that greater gains will be won through the faithful engagement of godly women in the boardrooms, family rooms, and classrooms of our communities than pithy posters or well-timed tweets. The word ambition makes some women uneasy, calling to mind self-serving strivers who pursue their goals at any cost. Other women say, “I’ve never seen myself as ambitious,” associating ambition with character traits that don’t fit their personality or role in life. Yet, as featured speaker Carolyn McCulley argues, “God has made us to be people who have desires… Ambition isn’t just for men, it isn’t just for business — it’s an essential component of being human.” Scripture tells the story of an ambitious God, who set the world in motion and invites us to join his mission of putting our broken world right. To bear God’s image means making his ambitions our own. And his ambitions are not small. To quote theologian John Stott: “Ambitions for God… if they are to be worthy, can never be modest. There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honour, and accorded his true place, which is the supreme place, we become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere.” Ambition is not limited by gender or standing in life — it is for everyone who follows God. Christ praised ambition when he blessed those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” while Paul strained toward what was ahead… pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called him (Matt 5:16, paraphrase of Phil 3:13-14.) Ruth, Deborah, Lydia, Rahab, and Priscilla showed similar determination, embodying ambition in their own unique ways. Long after the posters are folded and the hats packed away, our corporations and cul-de-sacs will still need the influence of Christian women ambitiously pursuing Kingdom goals. What would it look like for you to embrace ambition — to explore the dreams God’s given you, for his glory and others’ good? “The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng.” – Psalm 68:11 |
AuthorMay 22nd's post is from Mary Elizabeth Goodell. She lives in Ukrainian Village on the west side of Chicago and works for Hope Works Community Development. She is committed to working with and for the disenfranchised, particularly women who have experienced sexual exploitation and gender based violence.
BloggersWe'll post from a variety of voices of 20-somethings in the Windy City who are navigating life, work and relationships post-college. Archives
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