Embracing Your Unique CallingSample

Staying rooted in your true identity

Even the most successful among us find ourselves asking the same questions, especially when we step out of our comfort zones:

• Will my bosses find out I really don’t know what I’m doing? 

• Will my co-workers find out I’m winging it?

• Will everyone in my field find out I’m a fraud?

These questions of belonging, of competency, maybe of fear, are not necessarily bad things. They can show us when we’re unbalanced, when we’re not trusting God with our vocational callings. In other words, they can show us when we’re not focused on—and deeply rooted in—our faith calling.

Remembering who we are in God—his beloved children—where he has placed us, and the people he has placed around us affects our decision-making and thought processes, and even reminds us not to worry in times of fear. But if we elevate our vocational callings above our faith calling, we’re bound to become unrooted, maybe even uprooted. Our identity will be in what we do rather than in who we are. And when that inevitable vocational change happens, we’ll have a full-blown identity crisis (thus, why I wrote Called Out). 

So often we lose sight of who we are and come to believe our vocation depends on our strength, our effort, and our abilities. We unroot our vocational callings from who we are in God and get all wrapped up in what we do, trying to find our identity in that. And when we suffer any kind of setback in it, the fear of being an impostor sets in. 

When God calls you, he will always equip you, but he equips you to an identity rooted in your faith calling, not in your career. And sure, part of that equipping might be the skills, training, and talent needed to succeed in your vocational callings so that you can carry his love to others in that field. It’s okay to love what you do, but don’t allow it to define you. Can you introduce yourself to someone without mentioning it, as who are you outside of it? 

Ultimately though, fulfilling your vocational callings is less about what you can bring to the table and more about being expectant that God will show up. As you boldly step into your unique callings, remember who you are in Christ, and trust that he will equip you for what he has called you to do. 

We adapted this plan from another resource. Learn more at https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/235783.