Trust the Whisper: Finding Courage for Your CallingSample

If we are searching for purpose in life, we have to begin by believing there is something to find. There is something imprinted on each of our hearts from the day we are born, a gift from God, and why we are here.

My gift is different from your gift, yet we each have something unique to offer the world. When I was young, I loved to write and I filled journals with my thoughts. I think I had a secret hope to write a book one day, but I was missing the actual courage to believe I had something to say. I spent more than two decades with a career in advertising and graphic design, but it always felt like that really wasn’t what I was supposed to be doing with my life.

I kept feeling like I was forcing a life plan when what I really longed to find was a life path. When I was 44 years old, I finally found the beginning of that life path and I didn’t find it how I might have expected to. There was no neon sign flashing at the trailhead pointing me in the right direction so I could not miss the path.

Instead, it began with a whisper.

This little voice inside me that was telling me to do something inconvenient, unexpected, and uncomfortable. I tried to ignore it but it became so insistent, I finally had to spend the rest of my life listening or pretending I never heard it. So I listened.

That whisper insisted I should quit my job and begin housing people experiencing homelessness. That made no sense because I was a mom of four, a graphic designer, and I had absolutely no experience in construction or development. But for over ten years, I had volunteered in our local soup kitchen and I had seen the problem up close. While offering meals to people experiencing homelessness was a kindness, it was not a solution.

So I began working for that soup kitchen to begin understanding what could be done and ultimately, we housed hundreds of people which finally gave me a story worth telling and a book to write.

Writing is now my vocation and my spiritual practice. It helps me stay centered each day but more importantly, it helps me stay connected to God. Over the next five days as we discover this idea of Trust the Whisper together, we will also be exploring how you can begin uncovering your gifts and connecting to God through writing.

At the end of each devotional, there will be three questions for you to answer. If you don’t think of yourself as a writer, that’s fine! Grammar doesn't matter at all. These are for you to spend time thinking about each day. You can answer in bullet points if you’d rather not write full sentences. You can take the question on a walk and answer into your phone by recording a voice message. You can doodle or draw your thoughts. The idea is for you to connect with God to consider your gifts and what might be calling you.

Time for Reflection

(If you don’t have time to reflect on all three, choose one that you want to explore)

1. What gifts do you think God has given you?
2. Pick one gift and think about how you have used it to serve God.
3. Is there a gift you have been given that you have not used or been afraid to use? How might you begin using that gift?

Prayer for the Day

(This is an offering for you, or choose your own prayer for the day)

God, thank you for this one amazing life I have been given. Help me remember all the gifts I have been blessed with and lead me to use them in your service. May my gifts help serve the world’s needs to bring hope and healing to all. Amen.