Do you know what your calling in life is?
Could you state it right now from memory in just a phrase or sentence?
Many people think that their “calling” is a one-time event in which they will be given a special life assignment by God and then should be able to run right out and immediately do it. It’s seen as a task—often one, specific role or task. Another common misconception is that there is one specific route to your call and that if you miss a turn you’ll never arrive.
Your call is a function of how you’ve met God in your life story.
Your call is a Message you embody to an Audience through a Task or Role for a specific Impact.
It’s really kind of a 2-parter: A Being Call and a Doing Call.
Being Call:
- This is your Life Message. Your life purpose in “being terms”.
It is the key way the heart of Christ touches the people you love and serve.
The message of your life is the summary of your story. It is the theme God has placed in your life through your experiences where we meet God and He transforms us.
Doing Call:
- This is the task or role that you use as a vehicle to share your message with your audience to impact and change their lives.
So, in short– your life message is what you’re supposed to share with others and your task or role is how you’re supposed to get that message to the audience God has for you to share it with.
Your calling is a journey and takes place over time.
In the book The Calling Journey, written by and based on the research of Tony Stoltzfus, he describes a timeline of stages and transitions that the most people follow from their initial call to the fulfillment of their call. It is broken down into 4 stages and 3 valleys and typically does not reach fulfillment until mid-life.
You grow in skill, ability, knowledge, etc. during the 4 stages: Natural Promotion, Preparation, Releasing and Fulfillment. The 3 valleys ( Valley of Dependence, Valley of Wholeness, and Valley of Identity) are times of inner growth and character development needed in order to fulfill your calling. Each stage is followed by a valley until you reach fulfillment. There are key tasks, common experiences, and typical ways God deals with us during each stage and transition. There are also typical lengths of time for each stage and valley to last.
Working through your timeline and plugging the experiences of your life into it is an amazing experience. It really brings clarity to how the experiences of your life all fit together and are woven together with a common theme. It also helps to make sense of some of the unexpected twists and turns that you may feel you have encountered on your path.
This is one of my favorite things to coach around with others. I love life purpose and life calling coaching. It is always so interesting to see how God weaves together the experiences of someone’s life into a life message and then to see which roles and tasks He chooses for them to share that message with the “audience” He chooses for them.
I work with calling journey timelines individually, in small groups, and also in 2-day weekend workshops for larger groups. Contact me if you are interested in knowing more.
