Tag: career

Stop Searching For The ‘NEXT’ Thing

Have you ever found yourself wanting something new?  Specifically, I’m thinking of a new opportunity, experience, or career.

Or maybe you have recently stepped out of something, but the next ‘phase’ of your life lacks clarity.

For whatever reason, most of us do experience longing for a ‘NEXT THING’ at some point in our lives.  And it becomes even more difficult waiting for what that next thing is when we think we have an idea what it might be.

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Recently, after nearly 20 years of working in church ministry, our family moved across the country to Colorado Springs.  My wife accepted a position with a Christian publishing company, and I am currently working as a Barista at a popular coffee shop.  Shortly after moving and starting my new job, I quickly started speculating.  I noticed that I was trying to guess what God’s next assignment was going to be for me…as if my purpose were on hold.

But there was a huge problem with this.

I was already in that assignment!

I received a random text from a friend last week.  It read, “I was praying for you today, and God wants you to know that you are right where he needs you.  Invest your all in it.”

This almost brought me to tears.

The lesson I am learning in all of this is very simple…BUT equally challenging.  I am to accept where God has placed me as my primary ministry focus.  Period!

Then this scripture hit me right between the eyes.

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” – Jeremiah 29:13

 I was seeking God, but not with ‘all’ my heart.  A large portion of my heart was dedicated to seeking my next calling….job…opportunity.  I was peering into the future, into a season God has not allowed me to see yet.

God may very well be working on details for me somewhere down the road, but I am really excited to pour my life into the HERE and NOW of what today consists of.

 Can YOU relate?  Does any of what I’ve shared resonate with you, or am I really the one one?

Comments, prayer requests, and questions are welcome below.
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3 Keys To Effectively Discovering Your Next Calling

Do you find yourself lost, confused, or even frustrated with your current season of life?  Be honest with yourself.

It wasn’t until recently that I became vividly aware that this was true of me right now.  But I also realized that this felt negative.  Why?  Since when did being honest with ourselves become a bad thing?

I’m reading an insightful book right now by Gary Barkalow.  The title: “It’s Your Call: What Are You Doing Here?”  A perfect read for this confusing season I’m in.   Here’s a quote I read that got me thinking.

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Since moving from GA to CO and from being a campus pastor to a barista, the word ‘transition‘ has been quite the buzz word in our home.  This quote made me realize that I have been viewing this transition in my life as temporary…..a buffer if you will.  But here’s what I’m slowing discovering (with the insightful help of my amazing wife).

Could it be that God isn’t planning to allow me to move into the next ‘official’ ministry position until I fully accept and own what he has me doing at the coffee house and in my family?  Could it also be that there is an ‘unpolished mineral’ right under my nose today?  My sense is that I’ve been straining and peering so hard into the future that I’m missing the gold mine of opportunity for ministry he already has placed me in.

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I absolutely love how Barkalow penned this.  It has definitely been true in my life.  How about yours?  Let me try to wrap this all up and offer you what I promised in the title.

Here we go!

1.  Your next calling is now | God wants you and I to give our all to his Kingdom work today.  Don’t merely get by until the next door of opportunity appears, glowing in gold neon and surrounded with smoke screen.  That’s not always how he presents his calling to us (insert mild sarcasm).

2.  Enjoy the journey | Sure, there are times of sharpening and molding of our character.  But I firmly believe that when we are fully owning his call on our lives today…in this precise moment…he desires for you and I to encounter joy in it.  Happiness that only the Holy Spirit can give.  Pray for that.  Ask him today!

3.  Continue the search | This is so important.  Most of us look forward to Spring while we’re in the Winter.  And once we’ve tasted Spring, we can’t wait for Fall.  Finally, it comes full circle when we are yearning for Winter.  But wait, it wasn’t long ago that we were wishing for Winter to be behind us.  It’s simple (I think).  God longs for us to fully enjoy the ‘season’ we are currently in, while joyfully seeking him and his Word on the doorsteps of the season that is still to come.

He really is a good, good Father.  How do I know?  Because as I was writing this post in a Starbucks that song started playing overhead.  I know, in Starbucks!  Take a moment to quietly listen to the words of this beautiful song.  And may the Lord speak joy and affirmation into your heart directly from his.  “…and I’m loved by you…it’s who I am…”

“It is the glory of God to conceal things,
    but the glory of kings is to search things out.” – Proverbs 25:2