19. Say Yes

She talked passionately and excitedly while we sipped hot chocolate with marshmallows melting on top. She told me all about her undergraduate and graduate experiences as an international student, mixing in both biological and host family dynamics, financial problems, and emotional battles that come with cultural acquisition. As she told her story, some people would call it a mess. A lot of things fell through. Everything took longer than planned. She abandoned one major, had to drop out one semester because of an unusual and unexpected medical problem, and found herself on a financial roller coaster and in the pit of depression. 

But to her, it wasn’t a mess; it was a testimony. And you believed her because of the sparkle in her eye and the assurance in her voice. Not only did she believe that every twist, turn, detour, and wreck had been a part of God’s plan to prepare her for missions, she could specifically explain how each of those seasons with its suffering is currently be used by the Lord. 

In all that, she just wanted to pursue missions and be used by God in the nations. 

At one point of great uncertainty in her recent past, she confessed that she had no idea what to do. Her one prayer in that season was this: “God, help me say yes when you call me.” She recognized that she had a lot going on in her life at the time, and she had a lot of opportunities and options coming up fast. She knew that she couldn’t do it all. “I knew that not all of it was God’s call to me. I had to distinguish what God was calling me to, and then say yes to that.” 

I marveled at her maturity and knew that his was also the word of the Lord for me on this particular fasting day. (For the sake of accepting her hospitality, I made an exception to sip hot chocolate with her. That’s just one example of grace-based instead of legalism-driven fasting. It’s not so much about keeping the rules as it is keeping the heart attitude, and it just so happened that having hot chocolate with her was exactly how God chose to bless me on that specific fast day.) 

What she was saying was that not everything that presents itself as an opportunity is an automatic call from God. Especially in western culture where we value opportunities like currency - the more, the wealthier, the more important and valued and accomplished we feel...as well as exhausted, which we then treat as a form of elevated social status and success. The Jesus way is different. Instead of cramming in as many opportunities as we can, we get to lean in and tune into seeking the Lord to receive his instructions. It is important to recognize the opportunities that are distractions (even the good ones), listen closely to the Lord’s voice, and reserve our yes’s for the things that he is really asking us to do. 

But how do we know? 

The topic of a “call” is always intriguing to me. Receiving a call is a biblical thing. Remember the unique and specific calls of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Paul — just to name a few. But I can’t help but notice that all of those calls happened to unsuspecting people at unsuspecting moments. Moses was tending sheep, Samuel was still a boy, and Paul was on his way to kill Christians. None of those people were sitting around waiting for a call or begging the Lord to make his call clear to them. 

Now think about all the biblical characters and heroes within the history of the Christian faith whose only “call” was to live faithful lives of obedience to God. No dramatic event. Nothing extraordinary or miraculous really. For the call to come and die and follow Christ is radical enough. That’s extraordinary enough to turn our lives completely around and give us eternal purpose worth living every day for. 

So although the idea of a call is Biblical, it is not something that we need to be preoccupied with trying to decipher. It’s not something we need to worry about missing or messing up. It’s not something to sit around and wait for. On one hand, we have already received the only call we will ever need — “Come, follow me.” One the other hand, we ask God to give us clarity in the decisions we face about the little things. What are you calling me to do today? 

Instead of being preoccupied with a specific call, we need to be preoccupied with obedience to Jesus’ commands and doing what God has already instructed us to do in his Word. And to do that starting today, starting right here, starting right now. 

Then maybe a light will blind you from heaven or a voice speak to you from your bedroom. Or maybe you’ll just spend lingering time in the Word of God, cultivate spiritual friendships with Spirit-filled people, practice faithfulness in your normal everyday life, and then hear God speak through those things as you sip hot chocolate with marshmallows. 

Lord, give me courage to say yes when you call me.