An Alarm Clock or A Calling?

“Is it an alarm clock or a calling that gets you out of bed in the morning?” This is an ad from a magazine that Pastor Greg Laurie has quoted in a few of his sermons. It stayed with me the very first time he said it, but never came into full view for me until the last day of our spring semester of Bible study. As I listened to brave ladies give their incredible and sometimes heart breaking testimonies of how the Lord worked in them through His Word, one thought kept repeating itself in my head, “this is why I do what I do every day.”

People often ask me, why do you work at the church? Why did you take a pay cut to work there? Why do you work such long hours during Bible study or for an event? Why are you here when it’s your day off or you are supposed to be on vacation? Why don’t you ever leave “work” at work? The answer is simple, it’s not my job, it’s my calling. Often times I hear people who say they are not sure what they are called to do; they work at jobs that pay the bills, getting up at the same time every day to the alarm clock snapping them out of sleep. Sadly, they find that at the end of the day they are no more fulfilled than when they first began. This is not to say that anyone who doesn’t work in the ministry has a meaningless job. Often people are called to be doctors, trash man, or insurance agents, simply because that is the avenue that God has chosen to use them; they are in the ministry right where they are…they are called.

My calling is a room full of women, worshipping the Lord, hearing the Word taught, and sharing in their lives. In the past I would have nothing to do with women as friends; the many women I met in the world were catty and ruthless. When the Lord called me, I had to stop and ask Him if He was talking to the right gal; me, in the women’s ministry? In my old life that would have been my worst nightmare. Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t call the equipped, He equips those He calls. What He equipped me with was a heart for lost women, for women who feel like they don’t have a place, for women who don’t feel loved, or like they fit into God’s kingdom. Some of them even feel like they can’t possibly fit. That is my calling, for I know that everyone has a place in God’s house. No matter what skills you have, or don’t have for that matter, you still have a niche of your own in the Lord’s arms. My joy is being used by Him to reveal that; it’s nothing in my life or wisdom; it’s all His will, His timing, His calling.

Honestly, some days ministry is the hardest job I have ever had. The spiritual attacks can seem endless and daunting. The tasks at hand can sometimes seem impossible or beyond what we can comprehend. But God tells us that all things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). And it is a high calling, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:1 “I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” We have to walk worthy of the King that we serve and that is the highest calling there is. I learned early on to lay it all at His feet to begin with, admit that I can never do it without Him, and ask Him to pick it up and show me the way. People often ask me why I seem so calm in the midst of the chaos. I have found that no matter the task, no matter the event, God always shows up as long as I am walking worthy of what He has called me to do. This is the way it is whether you are in full time ministry or pumping gas at the corner station.

Every day I now ask myself, it is my alarm clock or my calling that gets me out of bed? It’s a great heart check and a way to know daily that my life belongs to the Lord. So ask yourself, are you called and if so, have you answered the call?

Lord, thank You for calling me to be Your child even though I was a ruthless sinner myself. Thank You for taking this life and making it something that is worthy to be called Yours.

M.