How To Live Out Your Calling When You Have No Extra Time

Life is crazy…I know, understatement of the year.

All day, every day, we live in a chaotic society filled with a million to-do lists on any given day.

That’s why we’re all burnt out and stressed out and constantly searching for an easier route. A way to unplug and relax.

And when you look at all of these burnt out, stressed out people, just ready to break and you say, “Step out in faith and do something more, live your calling,” you make all of those worn out people want to collapse.

So how do you grow closer to Jesus and truly live for Him when you feel like if you take on one more single thing, you’re going to lose it?

You don’t.

Let me explain…

When you feel like God is calling you to step out in faith and live your calling, a few things need to happen first to get you ready to make that shift.

Focus On Your Priorities.

With the craziness of life, a lot of our priorities can get buried under the things that we think we have to do. Luckily, one of the good things that came out of 2020 for many of us is that it shifted our focus back to what is important. And as we continue to open things back up, hopefully, we’ll rejoin society with our new mindset.

For example, in my day, some of my priorities include:

• Living for Jesus and teaching my kids to live for Jesus
• Taking care of my children and household
• Taking care of myself

What does that look like?

• Spending daily time in the Word and seeking His will for my day
• Feeding, caring for my kids and teaching them about Jesus through Bible stories at bedtime, life lessons in how they interact with each other and treat others, being a good example
• Treating my body like a temple by eating healthy and exercising

What doesn’t that look like?

• Binge watching Netflix
• Endlessly scrolling social media
• Over-scheduling ourselves as a family

Does that mean these things are “bad” or you shouldn’t do them? Absolutely not! I completely understand the need to shut off your brain and just be entertained for awhile, or the positives to socializing and playdates. But what I’m saying is that if you are looking for more time in your day, consider the activities that you’re doing that aren’t building into your priorities.

Could that time be better spent? Especially if it meant that you’d feel better, healthier or more fulfilled in your purpose? Even a few days a week of shifting your focus could give you that one hour you’d need to join a bible study or those couple hours to get involved in a church ministry. It CAN be done.

Ask God For Direction

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it 100x more, God knows the future, we don’t.

He knows our every move, our every motive and our every breathe before we take it. He knows exactly what He’s calling us to and how to do it, even within the craziness we may find ourselves.

When God’s calling us to something, unless He specifically tells you to wait on it, He’s calling you right now.

Not tomorrow, not next week, not in a few years when your kids are older and your life is a little less hectic, RIGHT NOW.

He knows your current situation, He knows the demands of your life and He knows how defeated you already feel.

And He’s calling you anyway.

Ask Him how you’re supposed to juggle everything. Ask Him to show you areas of your life you can trim away for now to make more room.

Do It Anyway

If you feel like you’ve trimmed your life of all the unnecessary time wasters and you’ve asked God to give you guidance in how to go about something He’s called you to, the next step is to just start doing it.

Even when it feels messy, even when it feels like you’re stumbling through it, DO IT ANYWAY!

And you know what? God will guide you as you go.

So many times I feel like we don’t feel 100% certain on what He’s calling us to or what the whole picture looks like and we have a tendency to want to wait until we have the full understanding. But I believe that God sometimes doesn’t give us the whole picture BECAUSE He wants us to trust Him and keep going to Him every step of the way.

Think about it…if we knew exactly what we were doing and exactly what the playbook looked like, would we continue to seek Him every day?

Would we keep asking Him for the next step?

Would we keep Him at the center of it?

Maybe? Maybe not? But if we don’t know exactly what it will turn into or we don’t know exactly where we’re supposed to go with it, we HAVE to trust Him to provide the next steps. We HAVE to continue to seek Him on a daily basis in order to move forward. We HAVE to keep Him at the forefront of whatever we’re doing.

And THAT builds relationship. THAT builds trust.

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
HEBREWS 13:20-21 NKJV

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. He will not leave you high and dry. If He calls you, He will equip you and help you figure it out. All you have to do is continue to trust that He will.