Unfolding

"Time is the longest distance between two places." ~Tennessee Williams

I stared into the frustrated eyes of my friend last week as we talked about her calling to write. She has big, big dreams, and those dreams seem to be coming far too slowly.

Can you relate?

In sharing my story to stepping into calling, I thought I'd better start with the reality of it. It's been a long time coming.

My specific calling is to teach, speak and write. Your calling may fall into a myriad of other categories, but every calling is equally high when it's in obedience to The Most High. We're ALL called to ministry, I have just had a desire for vocational ministry for almost 20 years.

My calling didn't materialize last year. It has unfolded during the last 35 years, and each phase of that unfolding has shaped and redetermined the final product (which I understand isn't ever final until my last breath!).

The unfolding looked kind of like this:

Becoming a passionate teacher of young children.

Marrying my best friend.

Investing years in my little boys' lives.

Teaching adults as they chased dreams that passed them by in their teens.

Volunteering in women's ministry.

Visiting home after home as the "Welcome Wagon Lady" in my new town. (Really? How could that fit in to the dream, the calling?)

Walking through doors open to speak.

Joining the P31 team.

Returning to a frustrating year of teaching.

Stepping in to the calling.

You might read this list and think, "Wow. She wasted a lot of years." I've thought that at times too, but it's just not true.

Every relationship, every job, every opportunity has prepared me for this time. With each change, I've had an opportunity to view that next step as stepping into a calling. Sometimes I did. Sometimes I didn't.

Often I was irritated at the seeming meaninglessness of what I was doing, but now I see. Every diaper changed, every knee kissed, every book read, every late night listening, every dying to self, every lesson plan made, every story attended to, every presentation made, every meeting attended, every spreadsheet created, EVERY THING...

It all counted.

Every moment was an unfolding of my eventual calling.

Don't despair today when you can't see it. Obey God and trust that He is working. His timing is so rarely ours, but it is always perfect. Instead of chaffing under the seemingly mundane, embrace each task as a building block for the dreams in your heart. Don't give up hope.

I promise...it's coming.