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. How's it going, everyone? Thank
you for joining me on this episode of the Pursuit
of Calling podcast. And first, I want to start
off by saying, ignore my cowlick. If you're watching
this on YouTube, it's not even in my notes. Why
would it be in my notes? Ignore my cowlick. Now
you're not going to be able to, but whatever.
Let's get into the episode. I want to start off
by saying, I know my pain in my story is not
the same as everybody else's. Some people experience
more pain. I'm talking about physical pain and
some people experience less pain. And it happens
in many different ways. My goal is not to discount
other people's experiences, but it's to give
a new avenue of growth. And I want to be able
to talk about what we can do not to ignore our
pain, but to live with it intentionally. Because
for a lot of us, our pain is part of our reality
and we have to live with it intentionally if
we want to pursue our callings well. So in this
episode, there's two main points I'm going to
cover. First point is your calling isn't determined
by your circumstances. You kind of understand
maybe where I'm going to go with that. And that
second point is your calling exists to benefit
others. So let's dive into that part one. Your
calling isn't determined by your circumstances.
This podcast itself is structured to help those
in chronic pain and suffering with other chronic
conditions discover their calling and live in
it well, despite the cards they've been dealt
or what other people believe they're able to
achieve. This pain that you may be experiencing
doesn't define what you're capable of. Yeah,
you might be limited physically, but you're not
limited spiritually. You might be limited physically,
but you're not limited mentally. My pain doesn't,
personally, my pain doesn't affect the drive
that I have to achieve my goals. At least not
anymore. It used to. But in order to achieve
these goals, I have, and in order for you to
achieve the goals that you have, we have to be
intentional with the time and the capacity that
we do have. Because we, let's be real, we have
less capacity than other people have. Personally,
I'm blessed because I don't experience consistent
pain. My pain kind of goes, ebbs and flows. Sometimes
the waves of pain are higher and I get distracted.
But I have, I'm not talking about this yet, but
I have my foundation in Christ. I'm able to look
at Christ in the waves and the storm and be able
to grab his hand and he can bring me back to
the boat so I can continue going where he wants
me to go. my let's go back to my coaching my
coaching is first to help you get over the hurdle
of thinking that your pain defines your calling
that it limits your purpose and then we can get
into personal creating a personalized actionable
list of activities and action steps you can take
each week to live in your calling well to pursue
your calling well and achieve the things that
maybe you personally Currently, don't believe
that you can, but I do. I believe that you can
do it because I know people that have. People
in pain, people with, like, I talked about Rob
Oliver on this podcast before, who is a quadriplegic.
If he can do it, we can do it. And he's a public
speaker. Because what you learn to do, what you
learn to achieve, what you learn that your calling
doesn't... isn't defined by your circumstances,
once you learn how to create actionable steps
that are personalized to you so you can actually,
so they're realistic and you're not going off
of somebody else's playbook, then you can achieve
anything that you set your mind to. Anything
is possible again. Like me, anything is possible
just like it was possible before I had my condition.
Your pain doesn't define your calling. God does.
God doesn't care about, I shouldn't say God doesn't
care about your circumstances, but he doesn't
limit your calling based on your pain. He doesn't
limit your calling based on your circumstances.
In fact, what we talked about in previous podcast
episodes, it actually can amplify your calling.
It actually can give you fuel for the fire. It's
my pain that has actually given me what I believe
is a purpose to talk to you, other people in
chronic pain, and help you achieve the goals
that God has put on your life. Now, point two,
your calling is to benefit others. And like the
title, it says your calling isn't for you. Your
calling exists to benefit other people. If you
believe you know your calling, I want to challenge
that a little bit. I want to put you to that,
that, that calling to the test. If someone asked
you, what is your calling? What would you say?
If what you just thought of or what you just
said, did it include other people that I would
say, I would challenge you and say, you haven't
discovered your calling yet, or maybe you just
haven't defined it well enough. And I've gotten
into other podcast episodes about why it's important
to define your calling, why it's important to
know what you're pursuing. But that's not for
this episode. I just wanted to make sure you
can go back and find the episode for that. I
can't remember off the top of my head, but I
know it's there. But again, I want to say we
exist on this earth to benefit and serve other
people. I know I'm rehashing that again and again
and again, but that is why we are here. We are
not here for ourselves. If we were, that would
be a meaningless life. When defining your calling,
make sure to include others in it. For me, my
personal calling, but I believe how I define
it at least, is providing others the tools needed
to successfully discover and pursue their God
-given Now, if you notice, that's not limited
to people in chronic pain. I don't limit myself
because my God doesn't limit my calling. He directs
it and he perfects it. I want you to write that
down. God does not limit my calling. He directs
it and he perfects it for my good and his glory.
regardless of her circumstances. So I said my
calling is to provide others with the tools needed
to successfully discover and pursue their God
-given calling. It's because I want to be able
to keep learning, keep growing, hold myself to
a higher standard than I hold anybody else to.
So then whenever I see some of my friends falling
short, whenever I see that they're achieving
a goal that they want to achieve and they're
maybe putting themselves down, And thinking that
they're not capable of doing the things that
I know they are, I call them out on that. I say,
what is that doing for you to say that maybe
I'll do this one day? You know that's what you
want to do, right? They say yes. And I say, okay,
well then do it. When are you going to do that
thing or what do you have to do in order to accomplish
that goal? That's coaching. And these tools in
my arsenal that I have, it's because I've been
pursuing what I believe God has been calling
me to do. And that's the point of this episode,
is to give you the feel for the fire, give you
the mindset, give you the tools to pursue. And
there's going to be some action steps after this.
Don't worry. This is not just me telling you
what to do. I'm telling me. how good it is to
do what I'm saying, but I'm also going to give
you some actionable steps to hope you discover
how to do it. Before we get to that, when you
see your life through the lens of your calling,
that means you need to continuously, like I was
just talking about, educate yourself on what
it means to live in your calling well. And what
do I mean by that? I mean, it means that you
ask yourself this question. How do I continue
to know the best tools out there for pursuing
my calling? For me, how do I become the best
coach I can possibly be? So not just to coach
my clients, but to be able to provide my friends
and family members with value. The people on
the street that I have a random conversation
with, acquaintances, other groups I'm a part
of. How do I provide them value? through the
calling I believe God has put on my life. Your
calling goes with you everywhere and you're never
going to be able to retire from this. So you
might as well learn to do it well. So how do
you do this? You ask yourself that question,
how do I do this? How do I get these tools and
resources? How do I get the mindset and the strategies
to pursue my calling well? You surround yourself
with others aiming to do the same thing. And
these people are aiming for growth in their life.
They're aiming to, they have goals and they want
to achieve their goals and they're pushing themselves
to achieve their goals. These people are going
to also, if you get close to them, this being
around these people will push you higher, but
they themselves will push you higher as well.
They will call you higher. They will call you
from where you might think you, from what you
might think you're capable of and call you to
a higher standard. If you don't want to be called
to a higher standard, I don't know what you're
doing. And next, I want you to find mentors in
your life. These are people who know more than
you do because we ought to be humble in this
life in order to grow. These are people in your
life who you can go and you can ask questions
to whenever you have questions. Maybe this is
spiritually, mentally. Maybe this is. How do
I deal with this pain? How do you find a mentor
that can help you through the pain that you're
experiencing? Somebody else that has experienced
this pain. You find somebody who experienced
similar pain. I found Rob Oliver, who's a quadriplegic,
which isn't the same thing as having muscular
dystonia. He told me as much, obviously. But
he's lived a life. He has lived a life as a chronically
disabled person. And we have had long, hour -long
conversations about what it means to live a life
not able to do things that other people can do.
And I'm talking to somebody that knows what I'm
going through now. Maybe not to the exact letter,
but he's able to understand it. And that's what
I want for you. I want to be able to, if you
want to talk to me, I mean, I'm saying I already
told you in the beginning of the episode, there
is a free discovery call. Maybe I didn't tell
you that. I apologize. I should have. I do offer
a free discovery call for you to get on my calendar.
And we can talk about helping you discover your
calling well, despite your circumstances. Personally,
I believe whenever you understand that your calling
isn't for you, that you start to get. more motivated
to actually pursue your calling well. Because
when your calling becomes more than how do I
live my life better? How do I make my life better?
How do I do certain things? How do I achieve
goals in order to make my life more fruitful
for me? And it becomes how do I benefit other
people's lives? That I think your life, I know,
I'm going to stop saying I think, I know your
life becomes much more meaningful. and impactful.
I think people in chronic pain in these conditions
don't believe you can have impact in other people's
lives, and that's a lie. If you can show others
that despite your circumstances, despite your
pain, that you can pursue what God is calling
you for, that's going to call so many other people
higher, and that God is calling you to do so
much more than what you think you're capable
of. Okay. So let's get this episode wrapped up.
I'm going to give you three action steps for
you to do this week. Three things. First one,
it's called a calling list. Instead of focusing
on what pain removes in your life, make a shift
to what is still possible. I want you to write
down at least five things that you can do despite
your pain. Maybe this is pray for others. Encourage
somebody. Write for five minutes about, write
for five minutes about what, write for five minutes
about the things that are possible, but you can
also write for five minutes the things that you
can do to pursue your calling well. Brainstorm
these ideas for five to 10 minutes. Record a
30 second, maybe you're like me and sometimes
writing is hard because writing is hard for me
to do. record a 30 second audio note or record
a five minute audio note. It's if you can't write
about what you can do, what can you still do?
And then if you're, then if you're using chat
to BT, I love chat to BT, you can record the
30 minute, a 30 minute, maybe you can record
that five to 10 minute audio message and then
give it to chat to BT and it will summarize it
for you. Like this stuff exists now. The technology
exists to make our lives so much easier. Like
we don't really have an excuse anymore. And I
said in the beginning episode, I don't want to
discount anybody's pain. I know there's people
out there that experience way more pain than
I do. And I feel for you and I pray for you.
And I can't speak for you and into your situation,
but my God knows you. My God knows your pain.
He knows what it's like to suffer. Because he
gave his life for you and died on the cross.
God gave his one and only son. Not so, I forget.
I can't remember John 3, verse 16 in my head
right now. But you know what I'm trying to say?
God died for you. He suffered. And we get to
suffer for his sake in this life. That was a
whole tangent. I apologize. But we get to suffer
for his sake. Man, I really hope you don't feel
like I'm discounting your condition right now,
but know that God sees you and God loves you.
Now, the second action step is identify the limiting
belief that's stopping you. Now, I know maybe
there's more than one, but get to the big one,
the one that maybe pops in your head first. What
is that one belief about your pain that keeps
you from stepping into your calling and pursuing
it well? Now, then I want you to replace that
with biblical truth. Personally, mine was my
pain limits my purpose. My pain, I'm actually
not able to do what other people can do, which
means I just can't do that, which means I must
not be able to do that much. My pain defines
this is this. My pain is now my purpose. And
replacing that with biblical truth is God's power
is made perfect in my weakness. Just rest in
that. What is one belief pattern, one belief
that you're having that is stopping you from
pursuing your calling well? Write that down or
audio message it. Audio message or a dictation,
whatever works well for you. And now finally,
pray. Pray this. It's just one sentence. It's
just one sentence of a prayer. God, show me one
way I can serve someone else through my calling.
today. That's it. Pray that every day. God, show
me one way I can serve someone through my calling
today to give you glory and to build the kingdom.
Amen. All right, guys. Again, I'm going to mention,
I'm going to do the short plug again. If you
would like to have a one -on -one conversation,
one -on -one discovery coaching call, with somebody
who knows your pain, somebody that maybe doesn't
know exactly what you're going through, but knows
how to pursue your calling well, how to help
you pursue your calling well despite your circumstances
without worrying about it, without worrying about
the things that are outside of your control,
sign up for a one -on -one free discovery call.
The link's in the show notes. Guys, it's a 45
-minute call. You really don't got anything to
lose. Just 45 minutes. All right, guys, if you
like this episode, I really appreciate you sharing
this out on social media. Go ahead and share
it out on Instagram, Facebook, wherever you listen,
whatever social media platform you use. And share
it with a friend, share it with your family members.
Guys, I'll see you next time. Keep pursuing your
calling well. Peace.