What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit
of Calling, the podcast that provides you with
the strategies and tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's
through inspiring stories, thought -provoking
interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on
personal growth and development, we've got you
covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy
the episode. Okay, pursuers, what if I told you
that a 4th century philosopher discovered something
that perfectly explains why your God -given calling
follows you everywhere you go? Aristotle believed
everything has a telos, an inherent purpose.
A bowl achieves excellence by holding things
without spilling, whether it's on your kitchen
counter or at a picnic. Its purpose is intrinsic,
not circumstantial. But here's where it gets
profound. Aristotle was onto something that scripture
confirms. Just as a bull carries its purpose
everywhere, God has placed a calling within you
that transcends your zip code, job title, or
life stage. Your divine purpose, your spiritual
telos, goes within you. goes with you because
it's not about where you are, but who you are
in him. So in this lesson, in this episode, I'm
going to be diving deep into your circumstances
and how they play into your calling. Let's get
into it. Many people confuse their trial with
their calling. pain, unemployment, relationship
struggles, we start thinking, this must be what
God has for me. But circumstances are the context
of your calling, not the calling itself. Personally,
as my pain increased, I started to think that,
like I just said, that it was my purpose. I thought
it was my purpose to be in pain. I wondered why
God would let this happen. I wondered, like,
okay, maybe God just... Maybe God did this and
my purpose isn't to be in pain. But later I found
that no, that wasn't the case. I did find that
physical limitations, they felt like they canceled
out any calling I could possibly have that didn't
have to do with that pain. I felt stuck and unsure
of what to do. So I'm curious, what circumstances
are you mistaking for your purpose right now?
Just like a chipped bowl, like if the bowl I
mentioned before earlier had a chip in it, that
bowl still functions perfectly. Your fundamental
design hasn't changed though. Your telos isn't
dependent on perfect conditions. It's designed
to work through imperfect ones. That chipped
bowl, it still holds water effectively. My chipped
body, my imperfect body, That doesn't change
my fundamental telos. It doesn't change my purpose
or my calling. Purpose isn't tied to physical
perfection. Physical perfection is not tied to
perfect circumstances because we know neither
of those actually exist. How might your imperfections
actually help you to better pursue your calling?
For example, I realized that my experience with
chronic pain provides me with a unique lens to
life, a unique lens to see life through in order
to help others going through hard times. I believe
I'm a pretty good expert at going through hard
things because I go through hard things every
day. I think having gone through multiple years
of that, I could call myself an expert in it.
I don't think that's an understatement. So yeah,
think about that. I'm curious what you would
say. How might your imperfections actually help
you to better pursue your calling? Learning this
truth hurt as much as the physical pain. I had
to stop being so self -dependent. I wanted to
do everything myself. If I didn't do it, then
my thought was that it would be done wrong, which
obviously is the wrong way to think. I had to
start asking for help. That was one of the biggest
things I grew in through this limitation. I learned
God taught me how to ask for help, how to rely
on other people, and how to rely on Him. I had
to separate my identity from my physical abilities.
You know, I remember that I used to be able to
work out. I used to, if you were... a listener
way back when, whenever maybe we had a video
or something of where I was a little bit more
fit. And as my physical condition continued to,
I guess you could say decline, but I would also
say that sounds like it's like really, really
bad. I would say when my physical condition,
my ailment started to increase, I had to stop
working out as heavily as I used to. Lost a lot
of muscle. And I also lost part of my identity
as somebody who worked out, as somebody who was
fit. That hurt. I had to separate my calling.
I had to separate my purpose, my identity, from
my circumstances. God's design for my calling,
that predates my diagnosis. He used my circumstances
like tools in a toolbox. When I was a kid, I
would sometimes walk through my dad's workshop.
He's a carpenter. And I didn't know how to use
the tools that were in his workshop. I didn't
even know what they were called. I knew some
of them were saws. I knew what a hammer was.
We can say that. But I still didn't know how
to use a lot of these tools effectively. God,
though, being the Father, knows exactly what
to do with the tools of our circumstances. These
experiences or tools change us and teach us.
And that can be for the better if we let it.
So thinking back, I remember to maybe add a little
bit more to that analogy, my dad knew exactly
what those tools were. He knew exactly how to
use them. Just like God knows how to use the
tools, your circumstances to better you, to grow
you. All you got to do is you rely on him and
listen to him. Think back on your life now. What
experience in your life has grown you to the
point where you can use it as a tool to help
others? I'm going to say that again. Think back
on your life. What experience from your past
or even maybe in your present has grown you to
the point where you can now use it as a tool?
to help others. I do honestly believe that this
can help us start to define the calling on our
lives. Don't get me wrong. I talk about muscular
dystonia. I talk about being in chronic pain.
And it sucks. It sucks to be in chronic pain.
But it's okay to say this sucks and God's calling
remains. That's not a contradiction. It's not
a contradiction to say my circumstance sucks,
but I still have God's calling on my life. I
still have a purpose. I still have telos. It's
where calling gets clarified. Our struggles don't
disqualify us. They often become the very thing
that amplifies our message and our ministry.
Struggles suck. They're struggles. They're not
supposed to be fun. But remember, even though
if you might be saying even right now that this
sucks, God's calling remains. You still have
a purpose. Pain doesn't disqualify purpose. Again,
it amplifies it. Now, okay, real quick, for those
who are listening to this and maybe have tuned
out for a second because you're not a Christian
and you don't know if you believe in God or not,
let me talk to you. Christians, you know, you
can still listen. But you heard me say purpose.
You heard me say telos. This applies to you.
I believe, regardless of whether you believe
it or not, that you have a purpose. I don't know
where to put my hand. I'm trying to get better
at my hand usage in the camera. Anyway, that
was distracting. But you have a purpose. I believe
that you have a purpose, whether you believe
it or not. So you can go through these practices
that I'm laying out in this episode, and they'll
be in the show notes. Just go through them and
be like, how can I use... Like the experiences
of my life, like I said earlier, to help others.
Like that's pretty, I think you could probably
do that. And your pain, you're going through
pain, whether physical or mental, if you're going
through sucky circumstances, know that that doesn't
disqualify you. I'm repeating myself a lot, but
that's okay. Okay. Now, God didn't design your
telos around your circumstances. He designed
it around his eternal purposes. Your calling
is bigger than your current capacity. Let's be
real. My physical capacity? No, that's not great.
I have a pretty low ceiling when it comes to
physical capacity. But God's calling is bigger
than what I can handle. It's bigger than my capacity.
It's bigger than I can handle without him. I'll
say that much. God constructed my telos based
on that eternal plan. My body isn't really a
part of that. Again, calling transcends physical
circumstances, whether it be with your body,
whether it be in your family life, whether it
be in any sort of way. Your calling, your purpose,
your telos does not change. It's constant. I
believe my calling is to provide people with
the tools needed to successfully discover and
pursue their God -given calling. So, I know this
might be challenging, but I like challenging
people. What would you write down as your calling?
I thought mine's kind of a statement. You can
use whatever way you want to do it, but you can
use bullet points, you can use a statement, but
do it imperfectly. What would you say your calling
is? And what would you say your purpose is? What
do you believe God has taught you in your life
to help you understand about your calling? That's
where I'm going to leave it this episode. If
someone were to ask you what your calling is,
what would you say? What would you tell them?
If someone were to ask you that question, what
would you say? Okay, but now, real quick, as
we end out this episode, I want to offer you
a gift. If you went through this, if you filled
out these questions and you want more, I'm offering
people three free coaching sessions. just i only
really want is your email just so i can communicate
with you and be able to talk with and be able
to sign you up and give you email notifications
for when your appointment is i'm giving you three
free coaching sessions so we can dive into your
calling even deeper so if you want to sign up
for that the link for that is in you know in
the show notes Whether you're watching on YouTube,
it'd be down below in the description, or you
can find it on whatever podcasting platform you
are on. Also, I'm throwing in a free t -shirt,
a free You Were Made For More t -shirt, just
for signing up and coming to the sessions. So
that's three free coaching sessions and a free
t -shirt. I mean, why pass that up? All right,
if you enjoyed this episode, Feel free to share
this with your friends, out on social media,
and definitely give this podcast a five -star
review if you liked it. And don't forget to comment,
do all the things, smash the like button on YouTube
and all the fun stuff. All right, guys. I'll
see you next time.