I’m always interested when people talk about feeling “called by God” to something. When reading the Bible, we see some very visual examples of God calling people (burning bush, becoming blind, etc.) but don’t often hear examples like that today.
But does that mean that God isn’t speaking to people anymore? Definitely not! We know that God is active and working in our lives. Especially since believers have the Holy Spirit guiding, convicting, praying, and interceding for us.
Adoption
It was about a year and a half ago that my wife and I started talking about foster care again. It was the first time discussing it since we were dating, where my wife was really interested in the impact that you can have on a child who doesn’t have a stable background. Her father was also adopted, and didn’t have a great experience and relationship with his adoptive family.
Before this point, my responses about adoption were essentially “We’ll see when the time comes” and “Man, that sounds like a ton of work”. But the difference this time was a little girl named Summer.
During the summer of 2020, my wife got a message that a friend of a friend needed someone to watch their little girl for a few days a week while she was starting a new job and getting out of a bad relationship. With my wife staying home full time with my other two boys, we knew that we could absolutely help out.
A week or two later, we had this adorable little girl in our home for a few days a week, and it was fun for the whole family. My wife would take them on walks to the park and my oldest son had fun playing with her and showing her all of his toys.
At this point, I was working from home and always tried to come up and eat with the family for lunch. As in most typical Christian homes, we pray before we eat and try to encourage our sons to pray as well. I remember having everyone sitting down at the table together and Summer having a slightly confused face as to why everyone was waiting and not eating.
In that moment, I could feel something shift inside of me. Seemingly, an overwhelming responsibility that the small amount of time that we are in this little girl’s life may be the only time that she hears about Jesus. To be fair, I have no idea if her mom took her to church, but the feeling of ownership was a very odd, but strong feeling.
This is the part of the story where you would expect some huge “coming to Jesus” moment, but I’ve got nothing for you. We kept on watching this girl for a few more months, before her mom was able to work from home and keep an eye on her.
Did we have any kind of huge impact on Summer’s life? No idea. But I was now able to better understand the concept and idea of caring for a child who wasn’t biologically yours. As a teenager I did babysitting, but never had the same feeling that I did through watching Summer.
I thoroughly believe that this was part of God’s “calling” us to adoption. Surprisingly, as my wife and I discussed more and more the possibility of foster care, we came to the decision that we were going to pursue international adoption instead.
No shade against anyone who is doing foster care (thank you by the way), but we felt like it wasn’t the best decision for our family. As we continued through our piles of paperwork and learning about adoption and trauma, we have felt confirmed that this is the proper direction for our family.
Are you waiting for some kind of burning bush moment before you start something? The times that I’ve felt the most connected to God and have confirmation of His will in my life has been the opposite of some kind of big theatrical display.
Instead of being knocked off a horse and made blind, I’ve felt a divine sense of peace and clarity. Looking at the story of Nehemiah we see a similar concept as well. He was in a seemingly normal conversation with a fellow Jew before hearing about how poorly things in Jerusalem were, and then brought his emotions to God through prayer.
Maybe God is calling you in the “quiet still voice” or “gentle whisper”, but you are too busy to listen? Don’t allow the thorns and cares of this world distract you from the purpose God has for you!
Reflection Questions
- Have you felt specially “called” to anything?
- How did that happen?
- Do you need to take a break, and start thinking about your life more?
- Finding and working at something you are passionate and called to can create immense joy and a feeling of fulfillment
- Have you ever created a list of ways that God has come through for you, or a list of God moments?
- Create a list and keep it close to you whenever you feel discouraged
