Find What Breaks Your Heart
I've had several conversations about "calling" lately. Some with new high school graduates about to go to college, not sure if they feel right about their selected major, and some with 20-somethings feeling discontent and unsettled in their current jobs. All of these conversations are guided by the desire to live life with purpose, but with so many potential routes how do you know which way to go? How do you find your calling?
Others ask me frequently how I'm so sure about my calling and where I am at. While I feel called to serve in Latin America and in the local Church I don't completely know my calling. I mostly just stumbled into a lot of it, which I think was part of God's plan. I didn't want to go to Colombia at 16, but that experience has impacted the entire trajectory of my life. He's since opened some doors and opportunities and I'm doing my best to identify them and be obedient. But for those who ask I usually say the same thing...
I often hear people say, and have had people say to me, to "do what makes you happy" when the topic of finding your calling comes up. I think finding something that you enjoy is important, but I don't think doing what makes you "happy" is great advice for finding your calling. "Happy" is an emotion and often situational - what makes you happy one moment may not be what makes you happy the next.
Jesus preached of the upside-down economy of the Kingdom of Heaven. The first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 20:16)...the poor will inherit (Matthew 5:5)...the least will be greatest (Matthew 23:11-12)...
What if, just like the upside-down Kingdom economy, the opposite of what is earthly, what we would originally think, is true?
Instead of searching for your calling in what makes you "happy" find what breaks your heart. Find what breaks your heart and you'll find purpose in dedicating time and effort to see any bit of healing come to it.
To add to the upside-downness even more, if you're not sure what really breaks your heart pay attention to your own personal brokenness. Your greatest struggle can often lead you to your greatest mission in life.
When I'm living into my calling I am usually serving marginalized people - those who are outcasted from society, don't feel as though "normal" is attainable, or those who do not know their worth and value. These scenarios are what deeply break my heart. Looking back, I've struggled with finding my "fit" and have had painful rejections that have influenced the most broken parts of myself. Understanding this has helped me to identify why serving marginalized people serves so much purpose - I know what it feels like to be rejected, feel different, not understand my worth, or that I don't belong and it breaks my heart to see others feel these same things.
The Guatemala City Dump, La Limonada, refugee slums of Colombia, inmates, mentally ill, addicts, homeless, gangs... These are all populations I've felt passionate about because they are often dehumanized, rejected, outcasted, marginalized, and even demonized. But in connecting these people with the services they need, getting to know their stories, identifying potential in them and investing in it, providing a small blessing, or even just spending time with them I have seen dignity restored and value understood - and it changes everything.
In the process of understanding my personal brokenness and what breaks my heart I have found ways to serve that tap into what I believe is God's calling on my life - to help people understand their value as God's beloved. In turn, this is what brings me great joy: to see others embrace themselves and who God made them to be.
So, I actually am doing what makes me happy but I found it through what breaks my heart. It sounds backwards, but when I think of all that I know about Jesus it makes total sense. Jesus turned everything upside-down, and that's why it's not easy to follow Him - but it's worth it.
Even after you discover this for yourself, it doesn't mean your job or career has to be your calling. A lot of this, for me, is serving outside of my job but I am also blessed to be able to do some of this in my job. I think people feel discontent at work sometimes because they equate career with calling. Sometimes your career provides the means for you to care for yourself and fund your calling. So don't be discouraged if that's you! You can live into your calling outside of what you do for a paycheck.
Find what breaks your heart. In your efforts to mend it, I promise you'll find some measure of your calling.
Others ask me frequently how I'm so sure about my calling and where I am at. While I feel called to serve in Latin America and in the local Church I don't completely know my calling. I mostly just stumbled into a lot of it, which I think was part of God's plan. I didn't want to go to Colombia at 16, but that experience has impacted the entire trajectory of my life. He's since opened some doors and opportunities and I'm doing my best to identify them and be obedient. But for those who ask I usually say the same thing...
I often hear people say, and have had people say to me, to "do what makes you happy" when the topic of finding your calling comes up. I think finding something that you enjoy is important, but I don't think doing what makes you "happy" is great advice for finding your calling. "Happy" is an emotion and often situational - what makes you happy one moment may not be what makes you happy the next.
Jesus preached of the upside-down economy of the Kingdom of Heaven. The first will be last and the last will be first (Matthew 20:16)...the poor will inherit (Matthew 5:5)...the least will be greatest (Matthew 23:11-12)...
What if, just like the upside-down Kingdom economy, the opposite of what is earthly, what we would originally think, is true?
Instead of searching for your calling in what makes you "happy" find what breaks your heart. Find what breaks your heart and you'll find purpose in dedicating time and effort to see any bit of healing come to it.
To add to the upside-downness even more, if you're not sure what really breaks your heart pay attention to your own personal brokenness. Your greatest struggle can often lead you to your greatest mission in life.
When I'm living into my calling I am usually serving marginalized people - those who are outcasted from society, don't feel as though "normal" is attainable, or those who do not know their worth and value. These scenarios are what deeply break my heart. Looking back, I've struggled with finding my "fit" and have had painful rejections that have influenced the most broken parts of myself. Understanding this has helped me to identify why serving marginalized people serves so much purpose - I know what it feels like to be rejected, feel different, not understand my worth, or that I don't belong and it breaks my heart to see others feel these same things.
The Guatemala City Dump, La Limonada, refugee slums of Colombia, inmates, mentally ill, addicts, homeless, gangs... These are all populations I've felt passionate about because they are often dehumanized, rejected, outcasted, marginalized, and even demonized. But in connecting these people with the services they need, getting to know their stories, identifying potential in them and investing in it, providing a small blessing, or even just spending time with them I have seen dignity restored and value understood - and it changes everything.
In the process of understanding my personal brokenness and what breaks my heart I have found ways to serve that tap into what I believe is God's calling on my life - to help people understand their value as God's beloved. In turn, this is what brings me great joy: to see others embrace themselves and who God made them to be.
So, I actually am doing what makes me happy but I found it through what breaks my heart. It sounds backwards, but when I think of all that I know about Jesus it makes total sense. Jesus turned everything upside-down, and that's why it's not easy to follow Him - but it's worth it.
Even after you discover this for yourself, it doesn't mean your job or career has to be your calling. A lot of this, for me, is serving outside of my job but I am also blessed to be able to do some of this in my job. I think people feel discontent at work sometimes because they equate career with calling. Sometimes your career provides the means for you to care for yourself and fund your calling. So don't be discouraged if that's you! You can live into your calling outside of what you do for a paycheck.
Find what breaks your heart. In your efforts to mend it, I promise you'll find some measure of your calling.
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