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. Some mornings the pain is loud.
Today is one of those mornings. And I hit record
anyway. My muscular dystonia today is rearing
its head a little bit more than it does in some
other days. After my shower and I sat down to
start writing notes out for this episode, I was
just in an immense amount of pain. I... But I
decided to do this anyway. I didn't really know
what I was even going to write about. And I decided
that this is what I was going to be talking about
today. How do you endure in hard circumstances,
especially when life sucks? Like when it sucks
the most. And this isn't just for people going
through pain necessarily. But it's for everyone
that's going through a hard season. Everybody
that is in a part of their life where you're
like, why is this happening to me? Talking about
your pain isn't a weakness, by the way. Talking
about when life is hard with a friend isn't weakness.
It's actually courage. You know, recently I...
I got to have a conversation with this man who
I believe is going to be a new mentor in my life.
His name is Rob Oliver. And if you're watching
this on YouTube, I have his book right here.
It's called Still Walking. And Rob is a he's
a quadriplegic. And this book is his testimony
around that and how his life. from being a fully
able -bodied 20 -something -year -old to then
not being really able to do anything on his own.
One of my favorite parts of the book is on page
33. It's the only page I have marked in it. And
it's when he was talking with his girlfriend
at the time, his now wife, about... How he didn't
want to be a burden to her. And that he was just
like, hey, I want you to live your life to the
fullest. And if you're not going to be able to
do that with me, you can go ahead. This is between
you and me. Don't worry about what anybody else
thinks. They don't know. And she stuck with him.
She stayed there. And they're married. And they're
still married. I think he's in his 50s or 60s
now. I didn't ask. And I was introduced to him
by Pastor Ed, who is the lead pastor at Amplified
Church. And I was talking to him about how my
condition was just really taking a toll. And
I can't imagine a better person that I could
have talked to. Somebody that knows. truly what
it's like to live every day in a situation that
sucks. But then he keeps his faith and endures
his condition to pursue his calling anyway. And
for me, I can talk to him now, I can talk to
Ed, but then I can also talk to my friend Andrew
Regato, who I'm pretty sure I talk about everything
with, especially when life is hard. He'll pray
for me. He'll build me up. And I always leave
the conversations with him better than whenever
I entered them. Sometimes we need to borrow strength.
And we have to remember that we don't have to
go through life alone. I do apologize. I mean,
I guess I shouldn't, but I apologize if you're
not a Christian right now because there are some
scriptures I love. to lean on whenever I, or
I love to remember whenever I'm going through,
especially through for me, physical pain. The
first one is James chapter one, verses two to
four. And I wish I already had it turned to in
my Bible, but I'm going to turn to it right now.
It's after James, right? Yeah. Or after Hebrews.
Okay. So James 1, verses 2 to 4. Consider it
pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you
face trials of many kinds, because you know that
the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you
may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Just let that sit. Just let that sit. Let perseverance
finish its work so that you may be mature and
complete, not lacking anything. Let endurance
do its work, guys. Continue to pursue your calling
regardless of your circumstances. Endure the
pain. The next one is 2 Corinthians 12, verse
9. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
We all have weaknesses. Mine might be more obvious
because they're external. At least more obvious
to me. But we all have mental weaknesses. We
also have physical weaknesses. And where we are
weak, Christ is strong. The light shines the
brightest in darkness. My condition isn't a result
of something God did, but he shines the brightest
through me because of it. Not the brightest in
comparison to other people, but in other aspects
of my life, I believe he shines the brightest
through me as a result of my condition. Not comparing
myself to others, but I believe he shines brighter
through me now than he did before because, I
don't know, it's just more obvious. It's more
the darkness of pain, the darkness of struggle,
the need to endure every day. I can only attribute
that to God. And the presence of God, even just
knowing that, acknowledging the pain, enduring
it, doesn't remove the pain, obviously, but it
does reframe it. You know, I'm reading a book
right now by Ed Milet. It's called The Power
of One More. I just recently read a chapter about
standards and he talks about how you should have
higher standards for yourself than you have for
anybody else. And I know... I don't think he
wrote this in the book, but I know that means
even in hard circumstances, have a higher standard
for yourself. Personally, I don't want to be
understood. I don't know, that might sound a
little weird, but I want my actions, because
this is what he says in the book, your actions
display your standards to everybody around you.
And it's your actions that influence other people.
John Maxwell says, Leadership is influence and
everybody has influence. You are leading people
through your actions and your actions display
your standards. If your actions aren't producing
good fruit, that means the standards that are
producing your actions are also... It means your
standards just aren't good. And so whenever you're
going through life, even in hard times, personally,
I want my standards to be higher than the person
next to me because I'm my own worst critic. I'm
my own harshest critic. I'm going to push myself
harder than I push anybody else because I know
where I fall short more than I know where Angie
falls short or where I know you fall short. I
know where I fall short. So I know the standards.
I know the standards that I need to improve on.
And I knew, I know the standards that I need
to one up the power of one more, one more standard,
one more level up. So continuously building your
standards also then turns into a sturdy character.
My calling isn't to, my calling, don't know why
I said isn't, but my calling is to provide people
with the tools needed to successfully discover
and pursue their God -given calling. First, it's
to prepare people for their calling, it's to
help them discover it, and then it's to pursue
it, and to do that well. I can't just do that
by my words. I have to do that through my actions.
That means my standards need to produce the actions
that produce the results that helps other people
pursue their calling. What is your calling? Do
your standards Produce the actions that produce
the fruit of what your calling is for. I think
a great way, this is just coming to me now, but
a great way, once you have your calling, once
you feel like you understand what it is, reverse
engineer it. Notice how I was going forward up
the ladder. from standards to actions to the
fruit which displays, that should display your
calling, what is your calling? And then what
actions can you be doing to pursue that well?
And then what standards do you need to set up
in order for those actions to become a reality?
So that's my challenge for you this week. My
challenge to you is to write down at least one.
I'm going to say five because he says power of
one more. So we're going to go four more. What
are your five standards that you need to one
up in order to produce the actions that produce
the fruit? that represent your calling well,
that help you, that shows that you are pursuing
your calling well. You're not doing it for anybody.
Well, you're doing it for everybody that you're
meant to serve. But you're not setting these,
so whenever you're setting these standards, you're
setting the standard for the action, the action
is for the fruit, and the fruit is for the people.
Just letting you sit with that for a second.
How do you want to influence people? What fruit
do you want to give them? What actions are going
to produce that fruit? And what standards are
going to produce those actions? Just reflect
on that. Where do you need to raise your standards
even when life is hard? So guys, if this is something
you're interested in, if this is something you're
actually now you're like, man, I want to dive
into this deeper. I want to add value to your
life by offering you a free coaching session.
It's actually one of three free coaching sessions.
This is going to be a link in the show notes
where you can schedule that. And guys. I just
want to serve. This is free. I don't even ask
for your credit card. Or debit card, because
I prefer debit cards. Anyway, I digress. But
okay, go ahead and click the link in the show
notes so you can sign up for that now. And guys,
I pray that you got something out of this episode.
Because this is one that honestly went way better
than I thought it could ever go. So I give all
the glory to God for that. But I just pray that
you, Lord God, I pray that the people in this
episode, the people that listen to this episode,
God, that they are lifted up. God, that they
raise their standards, pursue the calling that
you put on their lives, Jesus. That they can
serve the people that they've been called to
serve well. Guys, thank you for listening to
this episode. Share it out with everybody because
I know this is going to change somebody's life.
I know that. So go ahead and share this with
all of your friends, all of your family. Share
it on social media because, guys, what I'm talking
about today, this is what pursuing your calling
is. Share it out on social media. Give this podcast
a five -star review. And guys, keep pursuing
your calling well. I'll see you next time.