When The Calling Is There, But The Timing Is Wrong

Have you ever been 100% convinced that your calling was something or someplace far removed from your current circumstances?

One year before our move to Tennessee, Nathan started seriously considering a career change that would result in a move. In the fall of 2010, Nathan’s job searching began in earnest. He had two promising leads. One would have taken us to Colorado Springs. It was a job that Nathan could have easily done. The other option would have landed us in Nebraska. Again, it was a job that Nathan could have done with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back (that might have slowed down his typing, a bit. . .).

Everything about it made sense except for our housing situation. We were in the middle of a housing recession in a small rural town. To sell our house would mean we would need to come up with the difference between what we could sell it for and what we owed. That was out of the question. So, we decided to put out feelers to see if we could have renters. The first person we heard from fell off the radar when we told him we would do a background check. Perhaps a red flag? The second was a family that seemed to be a good fit. They looked at the house and then decided to rent a different one. We never heard from anyone else.

I felt defeated. How could we feel so strongly that we needed to move on and have it all fall apart? We wanted a change and God said, “Not yet.”

A year later we were packing all of our belongings and moving from the land of 10,000 lakes- a place where it was always winter, but never Christmas (oh, alright, we did actually have Christmas in MN) to the promised land of Nashville, TN. A place full of dream chasers.

Sometimes God puts a call on your life that you are ready to chase before He is ready to let you.

Someone needs to be reminded of this today. You are ready to write your book, start your business, and make the leap. It feels like you’ve hit a dead end. You feel stuck. The promise of the dream that’s far away is leaving your current circumstances looking all wrong. History is full of accounts of men and women who had false starts. The calling wasn’t wrong, but God was still working behind the scenes to prepare them for it.

See exhibit A: Moses. His first attempt to address the injustices facing his fellow Israelites ended with him murdering  a man and running away to the desert.

The timing and execution (pardon the pun) were wrong, but the calling was right.

You may need to spend some time practicing your skills on sheep.

Moses spent 40 years with sheep before he was ready for God to send him back to Egypt.

Nathan and I had some lessons to learn about ourselves and our God before the timing was right for our move. There were some things God wanted to redeem for us in the middle of our desert. We learned some important things about ourselves while we were waiting to be released to something else. In the moment, it’s hard to be thankful for the “not now”, answers. On the other side, we are so thankful.

You might be stuck with a herd of sheep today, but that doesn’t mean that’s where you’ll stay. Don’t doubt the dreams God gave you. “Not yet” doesn’t mean “not ever”.

(image credit)