Being prepared for your calling

There are some memories that get burned into the edges of who we are without warning. I experienced this in the sunrise of my life one autumn, as we traveled to visit a family in need about an hour away. 

As a Pastor’s daughter, it wasn’t uncommon for me to find myself tethered to the heartache of those in our community. Some were raised with bats and balls and board games - some of us were raised to save the world. From an early age, I knew the gospel chose me and I knew it in my bones before I knew anything else.

At some point during our drive I heard a song on the radio that would etch itself onto the walls of my heart for life:

In an immigrant community, fluent in the language of suffering, we needed these words because the family we visited that day wouldn’t come to know Jesus on our timeline. And in years to come our community would hold funerals for at-risk teens gone before their time; we would get 3:00 a.m. crisis knocks on the door to hear about an addicts' relapse. In short, we would learn to tether our hearts to God Himself in the absence of the outcome we hoped for.

If you’ve ever felt called to be a conduit of healing I’m sure you’ve witnessed your share of disappointments and complexities. You’ve likely encountered issues unresolved by even the purest of intentions and the noblest of hearts and have felt discouraged in the process. I hope you’ll allow me to share one piece of encouragement with you from twenty nine years of ministry...

The greatest task we have as those gifted and called by God is to cultivate spaces, relationships and paths in which others can be with Him and become more available to hear and know His voice. Because an answer from you or me and a word from God Himself are not one and the same. The greatest gift we can give is to point others upward, forward and free into the power of God’s truth and the wideness of His mercy, to hear and know His voice for themselves. 

This is exactly the kind of space we cultivate in individual spiritual direction sessions. I’d love to be a part of your journey when you're ready.

Tanya Godsey
Director of Spiritual Formation

P.S. - Click on the banner-link below to listen to a live, spontaneous version of The Love of God that I had recorded several years ago. Get alone and be still as you listen to it; I believe it will be an encouragement to you.