Most people want to believe that their life here on earth makes a difference. Even children long to know their purpose. My husband’s father, the late Dr. Howard Chadwick, a minister for over sixty-five years, used to encourage our three children to search for their life’s calling.  “Look around you at the needs you see in the world,” he would tell them.  “Then take an honest look at your own gifts and talents.  Your calling may be found where the two intersect.”  Though he is no longer with us, we still refer to “Granddaddy Chadwick’s rule” for discovering your life’s mission.

I talk a lot about learning to hear God’s voice in prayer.  But if this relationship takes me no further than my own needs and my own little world, then so what?  Is my life a “So What?” or a “So That?”  God saves us, sets us free, and loves us—so that we can be His hands and feet in a broken and dying world.

Ephesians 2:8,9 tells us that we are saved “by grace through faith” in Jesus.  We can’t earn it….it’s a free gift.  But verse 10 reminds us we are His workmanship, or “masterpiece,” created in Christ Jesus “to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do.”  God hardwired into each of us the necessary set of gifts and skills to fulfill our calling.  That’s amazing when you think about it!

Keep listening to God’s voice and stay connected to Him on a daily basis. That’s vital as we move out of our comfort zone to serve others.  More than ever, we need His guidance, wisdom, and protection as we walk among the broken and hurting and especially those without Christ.  The Bible reminds us that it’s not by our “might or power” that we do the works of God, but “by His Spirit”  (Zechariah 4:6).  We are also not designed to do this alone.  Grab some teammates to go with you.  And ask the Lord together:  “How can we pray, what can we give, and where do we go?”  He will show you….and He will be with you every step of the way!