Career paths
This morning's sermon was on spiritual gifts and my pastor said something that made a great deal of sense to me.
Each of us has at least one spiritual gift. (No, that's not it - I mean, yes, he said this but it wasn't what hit me.)
Now, we're not meant to only use this gift in church. There isn't enough time! Two hours every Sunday morning and maybe another two hours at Friday night church prayer meeting? Not enough time!
The gifts, my pastor asserted, are for use in everyday life. If your gift is serving, you ought to be going around serving people. If it is encouraging, you ought to be going around encouraging people. If it is leading, you ought to be leading people.
OK... now wait for it.
He said, "If you are dissatisfied with your career, it may be because you're doing something diametrically opposed to your gifting. When you work at a job that's in line with your gifts, you'll be doing what you were made for."
It was one of those, "Now why didn't I ever think of THAT?!?" moments.
It makes complete sense. If your gift is serving and you are pushed into a management position, you may very well end up unhappy. If your gift is leadership and you are stuck pushing papers, you'll be dissatisfied. Yes, it makes perfect sense. :)
I've been feeling a bit restless and vaguely dissatisfied with my job lately, and now I'm wondering if this is the reason... I know I have the gift of teaching (I didn't quite believe it, but several past leaders have said so and I've begun to see it manifesting more strongly over the past year). Maybe I ought to contemplate a career change?
It's something to think about. I've been sensing that God is calling me to move on to something else, somewhere else, but I have no idea what.
The thing is, I've wanted to be a journalist since I was 16 - I love writing and I just thought it would be the most ideal job for me. I couldn't imagine waking up every day to a job I hate, you see. So I studied law, but when I graduated I applied for a position with my company and God gave me the job.
Lately I think He's been saying, "Since you wanted it so much, I decided to let you try it out. Happy now? So NOW are you ready to do what I want you to do?!"
I'm finally ready to say "yes" without looking back.
Perhaps some part of me always knew it was going to come to this eventually. For some reason I've always thought of my job as temporary - I never really expected to be doing this for very long!
At the moment, as I said, I sense that God is calling me to move on, except that I don't know what, where, when, or how. There's a great sense of anticipation in the air; I keep on feeling like I'm on the brink of something. Again, I don't know what.
Ordinarily I would say the 'not knowing' is very frustrating, but this time I'm oddly content to wait for God to reveal His plans & purposes in my life. I sense that the present is a time of preparation for me. I'm excited! And seeking Him for direction...