How do you know what your calling is?
One of the ways is to locate the wound. There are many cuts, punctures and breaks we've suffered, but if you look, there will be a central defining wound -- perhaps going back to childhood. That wound will carry a heartbreaking message with it, a sentence of despair.
In my case, the journey from childhood to adulthood was a cycle of being missed and dismissed. I had something to offer, yet no one seemed to affirm it or draw it out. There was no one to call out my gifts and the heart I wanted to offer. The Church didn't help. With crushing force, I was thrown out of pastoral ministry because I challenged assumptions leaders were making. Though truthfully, I never fit the mold. I had too much passion about what I wanted to offer, and the institution said there was no place for me ... over and over again. The institution thought my role was dutiful compliance, as they ordered me to take on whatever scripts and roles they thought were necessary to keep the religious machinery going.
The wounding over the last four decades was clear: "No one wants what you have to offer."
A wound of rejection. A cycle of dismissal.
The very thing I wanted to offer was being shut down.
Locate the wound. Your wound will be the ashes out of which your glory and brilliance rise. Jesus is in the process of redeeming and healing your wound, turning shame into glory. The very thing at risk of being shut down and sabotaged is the very thing you are called to.
So you might guess that over four decades, I searched hard and long for validation and clarity. I was desperate to know what I was called to. "How do I find out? What are the particulars of my calling?" And God brought people into my life to call out and affirm the gifts and passions they knew were there. Slowly I began to heal.
Remember that your wound will be a clue to your glory. You might guess that, because of my own wound, I enjoy helping people recover their own identity, longings, and offerings. I want them to get their noble and unique heart back.
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Have you discovered your wound and how it points to your glorious new identity?