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What's going on, Pursuers? Welcome to The Pursuit

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of Calling, the podcast that provides you with

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the strategies and tools needed to successfully

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discover and pursue your calling. Whether it's

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through inspiring stories, thought -provoking

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interviews, or quick, insightful episodes on

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personal growth and development, we've got you

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covered. I'm your host, Thomas Carney. Enjoy

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the episode. Okay, pursuers, what if I told you

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that a 4th century philosopher discovered something

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that perfectly explains why your God -given calling

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follows you everywhere you go? Aristotle believed

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everything has a telos, an inherent purpose.

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A bowl achieves excellence by holding things

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without spilling, whether it's on your kitchen

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counter or at a picnic. Its purpose is intrinsic,

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not circumstantial. But here's where it gets

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profound. Aristotle was onto something that scripture

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confirms. Just as a bull carries its purpose

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everywhere, God has placed a calling within you

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that transcends your zip code, job title, or

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life stage. Your divine purpose, your spiritual

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telos, goes within you. goes with you because

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it's not about where you are, but who you are

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in him. So in this lesson, in this episode, I'm

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going to be diving deep into your circumstances

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and how they play into your calling. Let's get

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into it. Many people confuse their trial with

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their calling. pain, unemployment, relationship

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struggles, we start thinking, this must be what

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God has for me. But circumstances are the context

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of your calling, not the calling itself. Personally,

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as my pain increased, I started to think that,

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like I just said, that it was my purpose. I thought

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it was my purpose to be in pain. I wondered why

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God would let this happen. I wondered, like,

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okay, maybe God just... Maybe God did this and

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my purpose isn't to be in pain. But later I found

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that no, that wasn't the case. I did find that

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physical limitations, they felt like they canceled

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out any calling I could possibly have that didn't

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have to do with that pain. I felt stuck and unsure

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of what to do. So I'm curious, what circumstances

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are you mistaking for your purpose right now?

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Just like a chipped bowl, like if the bowl I

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mentioned before earlier had a chip in it, that

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bowl still functions perfectly. Your fundamental

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design hasn't changed though. Your telos isn't

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dependent on perfect conditions. It's designed

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to work through imperfect ones. That chipped

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bowl, it still holds water effectively. My chipped

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body, my imperfect body, That doesn't change

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my fundamental telos. It doesn't change my purpose

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or my calling. Purpose isn't tied to physical

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perfection. Physical perfection is not tied to

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perfect circumstances because we know neither

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of those actually exist. How might your imperfections

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actually help you to better pursue your calling?

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For example, I realized that my experience with

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chronic pain provides me with a unique lens to

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life, a unique lens to see life through in order

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to help others going through hard times. I believe

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I'm a pretty good expert at going through hard

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things because I go through hard things every

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day. I think having gone through multiple years

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of that, I could call myself an expert in it.

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I don't think that's an understatement. So yeah,

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think about that. I'm curious what you would

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say. How might your imperfections actually help

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you to better pursue your calling? Learning this

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truth hurt as much as the physical pain. I had

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to stop being so self -dependent. I wanted to

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do everything myself. If I didn't do it, then

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my thought was that it would be done wrong, which

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obviously is the wrong way to think. I had to

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start asking for help. That was one of the biggest

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things I grew in through this limitation. I learned

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God taught me how to ask for help, how to rely

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on other people, and how to rely on Him. I had

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to separate my identity from my physical abilities.

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You know, I remember that I used to be able to

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work out. I used to, if you were... a listener

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way back when, whenever maybe we had a video

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or something of where I was a little bit more

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fit. And as my physical condition continued to,

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I guess you could say decline, but I would also

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say that sounds like it's like really, really

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bad. I would say when my physical condition,

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my ailment started to increase, I had to stop

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working out as heavily as I used to. Lost a lot

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of muscle. And I also lost part of my identity

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as somebody who worked out, as somebody who was

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fit. That hurt. I had to separate my calling.

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I had to separate my purpose, my identity, from

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my circumstances. God's design for my calling,

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that predates my diagnosis. He used my circumstances

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like tools in a toolbox. When I was a kid, I

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would sometimes walk through my dad's workshop.

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He's a carpenter. And I didn't know how to use

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the tools that were in his workshop. I didn't

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even know what they were called. I knew some

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of them were saws. I knew what a hammer was.

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We can say that. But I still didn't know how

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to use a lot of these tools effectively. God,

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though, being the Father, knows exactly what

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to do with the tools of our circumstances. These

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experiences or tools change us and teach us.

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And that can be for the better if we let it.

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So thinking back, I remember to maybe add a little

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bit more to that analogy, my dad knew exactly

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what those tools were. He knew exactly how to

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use them. Just like God knows how to use the

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tools, your circumstances to better you, to grow

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you. All you got to do is you rely on him and

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listen to him. Think back on your life now. What

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experience in your life has grown you to the

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point where you can use it as a tool to help

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others? I'm going to say that again. Think back

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on your life. What experience from your past

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or even maybe in your present has grown you to

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the point where you can now use it as a tool?

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to help others. I do honestly believe that this

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can help us start to define the calling on our

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lives. Don't get me wrong. I talk about muscular

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dystonia. I talk about being in chronic pain.

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And it sucks. It sucks to be in chronic pain.

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But it's okay to say this sucks and God's calling

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remains. That's not a contradiction. It's not

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a contradiction to say my circumstance sucks,

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but I still have God's calling on my life. I

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still have a purpose. I still have telos. It's

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where calling gets clarified. Our struggles don't

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disqualify us. They often become the very thing

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that amplifies our message and our ministry.

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Struggles suck. They're struggles. They're not

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supposed to be fun. But remember, even though

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if you might be saying even right now that this

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sucks, God's calling remains. You still have

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a purpose. Pain doesn't disqualify purpose. Again,

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it amplifies it. Now, okay, real quick, for those

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who are listening to this and maybe have tuned

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out for a second because you're not a Christian

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and you don't know if you believe in God or not,

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let me talk to you. Christians, you know, you

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can still listen. But you heard me say purpose.

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You heard me say telos. This applies to you.

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I believe, regardless of whether you believe

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it or not, that you have a purpose. I don't know

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where to put my hand. I'm trying to get better

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at my hand usage in the camera. Anyway, that

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was distracting. But you have a purpose. I believe

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that you have a purpose, whether you believe

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it or not. So you can go through these practices

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that I'm laying out in this episode, and they'll

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be in the show notes. Just go through them and

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be like, how can I use... Like the experiences

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of my life, like I said earlier, to help others.

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Like that's pretty, I think you could probably

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do that. And your pain, you're going through

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pain, whether physical or mental, if you're going

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through sucky circumstances, know that that doesn't

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disqualify you. I'm repeating myself a lot, but

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that's okay. Okay. Now, God didn't design your

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telos around your circumstances. He designed

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it around his eternal purposes. Your calling

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is bigger than your current capacity. Let's be

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real. My physical capacity? No, that's not great.

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I have a pretty low ceiling when it comes to

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physical capacity. But God's calling is bigger

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than what I can handle. It's bigger than my capacity.

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It's bigger than I can handle without him. I'll

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say that much. God constructed my telos based

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on that eternal plan. My body isn't really a

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part of that. Again, calling transcends physical

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circumstances, whether it be with your body,

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whether it be in your family life, whether it

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be in any sort of way. Your calling, your purpose,

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your telos does not change. It's constant. I

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believe my calling is to provide people with

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the tools needed to successfully discover and

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pursue their God -given calling. So, I know this

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might be challenging, but I like challenging

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people. What would you write down as your calling?

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I thought mine's kind of a statement. You can

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use whatever way you want to do it, but you can

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use bullet points, you can use a statement, but

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do it imperfectly. What would you say your calling

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is? And what would you say your purpose is? What

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do you believe God has taught you in your life

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to help you understand about your calling? That's

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where I'm going to leave it this episode. If

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someone were to ask you what your calling is,

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what would you say? What would you tell them?

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If someone were to ask you that question, what

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would you say? Okay, but now, real quick, as

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we end out this episode, I want to offer you

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a gift. If you went through this, if you filled

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out these questions and you want more, I'm offering

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people three free coaching sessions. just i only

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really want is your email just so i can communicate

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with you and be able to talk with and be able

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to sign you up and give you email notifications

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for when your appointment is i'm giving you three

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free coaching sessions so we can dive into your

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calling even deeper so if you want to sign up

00:12:50.139 --> 00:12:52.820
for that the link for that is in you know in

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the show notes Whether you're watching on YouTube,

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it'd be down below in the description, or you

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can find it on whatever podcasting platform you

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are on. Also, I'm throwing in a free t -shirt,

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a free You Were Made For More t -shirt, just

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for signing up and coming to the sessions. So

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that's three free coaching sessions and a free

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t -shirt. I mean, why pass that up? All right,

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if you enjoyed this episode, Feel free to share

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this with your friends, out on social media,

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and definitely give this podcast a five -star

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review if you liked it. And don't forget to comment,

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do all the things, smash the like button on YouTube

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and all the fun stuff. All right, guys. I'll

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see you next time.