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. I have a condition called muscular
dystonia. You might already know that. You might
already know that. However, for those who don't
know, this condition, it's neurological, and
it's not always chronic, but mine is, and it
causes chronic pain. And today, a friend of mine,
Shane came over the other day to help me clean
my place. So I dropped him off at my place after
church, and he started cleaning. I went grocery
shopping. And when I got back, he had gone above
and beyond, cleaning far more than what I actually
expected him to do, which I honestly believe
is what we as Christians should be doing to achieve
excellence, exceeding expectations. Now, I could
have done this myself, though, but it would have
taken much longer and left me in a lot of pain.
That moment reminded me, asking for help isn't
a weakness. It's wisdom and it's maturity. But
it also reminded me of something deeper. Even
though people understand my limitations, that's
not my goal. My goal isn't to be understood.
It's to get things done. It's to do them well.
And to live in my calling. People are going to
understand your limitations. And that's okay.
Like that's something that we should have lay
out for people, that we have limitations, that
we can't do everything that other people can
do. But don't make that the goal. Don't let it
stop there. It's easy for others to say, I understand
why you couldn't do it. I understand why your
place is dirty in my context. I understand why.
I was going to leave it at that. I understand
why you couldn't do. The things that other people
can do. But if you stop there, you start lowering
your standards. Lowering your standard of obedience
to what others can understand. What do I mean
by obedience? What is that standard of obedience?
It's obedience to God. I believe that God has
a calling on your life. God has a calling on
your life that is not determined by your circumstances.
Our goal is not to be understood, but it is to
be faithful. Colossians 3 .23 says, Whatever
you do, work at it with all of your heart, as
working for the Lord and not for human masters,
not for men. That means even in pain, even with
limited energy, we do what God has called us
to do. And we strive to do it well. Not everything,
again, like we said this last week, if you didn't
listen to last week's episode, I dove really
deep into 323 and Colossians 323, and it dives
into saying, you don't strive to do everything
well, but to do the right things well, to do
the things that you can prioritize to live in
your calling well. Faithful excellence isn't
doing it alone either. Before I mentioned my
friend Shane. Shane, not shame. My friend Shane.
And asking for help isn't shameful. It's biblical.
That's what biblical community is for. God didn't
design us to carry every task alone. There's
strength in asking for help so you can focus
your energy on what matters most. If you're like
me and maybe you have chronic pain. Or maybe
you have other limitations that I don't even
know exist. But maybe you're like me and you
have chronic pain. And you can't clean yourself.
You can't clean your home. Maybe you're like
me and you can't drive all the time by yourself.
You're going to need to ask for help. You're
going to need to be dependent on others on this
pursuit of your calling. You can't probably also
can't do all the things you want to do. If you're
like me, you're a high achiever. If you're like
me, you strive to do a lot of things and you
strive to do them all well, but you also realize,
you might probably realize pretty quickly and
pretty early on that you weren't able to do it
all by yourself. So what did you do? Did you
quit or did you find somebody to help? If you
quit, I think now this is the time to find someone
to help you live in that calling wall, to help
you figure out how to do the things that you're
not able to do on your own. Live in such a way
that people don't understand how you did it.
Let people look at you and look at your life
and say, how does he keep showing up like that?
How does he get it all done? He has these limitations.
Like, how is he able to do it? How do they keep
showing up like that? When they see that, they're
not seeing you. They're seeing God's strength
made perfect in your weakness. Hmm. And what
I love about that is that it calls people higher,
even people without conditions. If we, in our
own conditions, if we, in our conditions, If
we, with our limitations, can strive to live
in our calling well, can strive to express the
fruits of the Spirit, to joy, peace, faithfulness,
kindness, and self -control, and I know I'm missing
at least one, that will call others higher. If
we strive to live in our callings well, others
will strive as well. God can use your condition.
for his glory. Do not forget this. This is the
most important point of this whole episode. God
can use your condition for his glory. Whether
or not God caused your condition, he can redeem
it. So this is actually something that apparently
is a high -tension topic, I believe. So some
people believe, and maybe you're one of them,
that God causes these conditions in order for
them to be our cross to bear. And in order for
us to learn from, in order for him to be able
to use us in a particular way for his glory.
I don't exactly believe that. I believe that
because of sin entering the world, these conditions
are a part of our reality. And despite that,
despite the evil that was meant by it by the
enemy, God still turns it around for good. He
can use anything and does. So that means God
is going to use your condition for his glory.
All you got to do, all you got to do is be open
to that. All you got to do is say, God, show
me how. Show me how I can use my condition, how
I can use my condition for your glory, how you
are going to be using my condition for your glory.
Help me be dependent on you, God. Romans 8 .28
says, and we know that in all things, God works
for the good of those who love him. God, look,
I don't know why we're in these conditions. The
only reason I have is that God is using it for
his glory. And I don't believe it's some cosmic
mistake. I don't believe you're in pain because
of your sin. Like they believed in the Old Testament.
I don't believe that you're cursed. I believe
that you're blessed. I believe that I'm blessed.
Because my faith has grown exponentially as a
result of my condition. And I'm striving to live
my calling every day for his glory because this
is what I'm called to do. I'm called to provide
people with the tools needed to successfully
discover and pursue their God -given calling
despite my circumstances. Your circumstances
don't define your calling. God does. Your pain
isn't wasted. It's your platform. Your calling
doesn't disappear when your body hurts. If anything,
it becomes clearer. Cutting out things in your
life and causing you to focus on what's most
important. Instead of asking God, why me? You
can ask God instead, God, how do you want to
use this? Hmm. I know I'm repeating myself, but
it's important. Just pray. There is no bad prayer.
God, how do you want to use this? Don't aim for
people to understand your pain. Aim for them
to see your purpose through it. Aim to not understand.
Aim to be misunderstood. They can understand
that you have limitations, but have the misunderstanding
that maybe they thought because of your limitations
that you weren't going to be able to achieve
as much. Aim to be misunderstood. Achieve more
than what the world tells you you can. If you
knew... Sorry, I skipped ahead a little bit.
Okay, so this week, I want to pause and ask,
I want you to pause and ask, where have I been
aiming to be understood instead of being faithful?
Or... Another way to ask that, where am I okay
with living underneath my calling? Where am I
okay with living under where I'm called to live?
You're called to live here and you're living
here. If you're watching the YouTube video, I
have one hand above the other hand and saying
you're called higher. That's why I had the merch
that we'll bring back one day that says you were
made for more. Sorry if I just clapped and I
heard it in the microphone, but you were made
for more. You're made for more than your circumstance.
You're made for more than what the world has
told you your purpose is. Your purpose is not
your pain, but it will amplify it. Wait, no.
Your purpose is not your pain, but your pain
will amplify your purpose. Okay, one final question.
One final question. If you knew that I could
help you live in your calling well despite your
circumstances, what would you do? I don't know
if you know, but I'm a certified life coach through
Maxwell Leadership. And what that means, essentially,
is that I'm trained in having thought -provoking
conversations. You might be like, what the heck's
that? It's the... Let me continue. If you're
still listening to this episode and there's something
stirring in you, if you're tired of surviving
and want to start thriving, this is what we're
going to do. I'm going to talk to you about what's
holding you back, where you are currently, and
what it could look like to live in your calling
well. You remain on purpose and for a purpose.
I want to pursue that together. Part of the coaching
where I'm just trained at asking good questions.
I'm trained to get you to see where your calling
is if you don't already know. And then be able
to create an actionable plan in order to achieve
that well. And then there's the accountability
part of that where every week you come back and
we talk about what you did last week. what your
aim to do next week, what the obstacles are in
the way, and how you're going to do it. And that's
every single week. That's the layout that I just
left you behind the curtain. And I want to do
it for you, the people that are in these circumstances,
the people that feel like that others think that
their circumstances define what they are able
to achieve. And I want you to be able to say
no. So click the link in the description of this.
It's just a free 45 -minute discovery coaching
call. I want to help you pursue your calling.
And if you go through this and you don't like
it, hey, the worst thing that can happen is that
you spent 45 minutes to see what it could possibly
mean to live in your calling well. That's the
worst that can happen, 45 minutes, and you don't
get back. Do you have 45 minutes? I think you
have 45 minutes. You got nothing to lose. So
guys, if anything, go back and answer the questions
I asked you earlier. Where are you living under
your calling? And if you liked this episode,
please give it a five stars on Apple Podcasts
and Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Give it a review and share it out on social media.
Share with a friend. All right, I'll see you
next time. Keep pursuing your calling well. Peace.
Thank you.