Is it what He wants me to do?

Is it what He wants me to do?

I am rereading a book I read a year or so back by Bill Peel called What God Does When Men Lead: The Power and Potential of Regular Guys.  Peel ends each chapter with several study questions.  I am reflecting on one of those questions this evening.  The question is “How did I come to choose my current work?  Do I think it is what God wants me to do?” 

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So many men (and people in general) struggle to know what it is that God has planned for them.  In seeking to uncover their vocational calling so many people (including me) try to find this purpose in things, power, money, status, or fame.  Many college students select academic majors based on what their parents want them to be rather than submitting to God’s will and their talents. 

We need to take time to discern what it is God wants us to do as members of the Body of Christ.  We need to consider how our gifts and talents and passions intertwine in terms of vocational direction.  We also have to be okay that it is not a straight line and that we may have to wander in the wilderness and go around the same mountain time and time again before we see our place in the Body of Christ revealed.

As I have posted in an earlier blog post I am currently a college student educator.  I have moved into that stage of my career where we (in the field) say that “I am seasoned”.  Like many colleagues I came into this field from having been involved as an undergraduate student in college.  Some might say that classes got in the way of my co-curricular involvement. 

My story starts like this.  Following high school I enrolled in college as a Speech Communications major.  My hope (found in fame and notoriety) was to become a television news reporter.  I even had an opportunity following my internship to work at a local station as a reporter.  Although I liked the work, I had not been bitten by the journalism bug.  I kept returning to thinking about earlier thoughts of being a teacher.  But something in K-12 was not for me.  Then while serving as a Resident Advisor I came to learn more about student affairs in higher education.  Student affairs college student educators are the ones charged on campuses with developing and coordinating the out of class co-curricular experiences.  This seemed to be the connection I was seeking.

I obtained my first position as a Resident Director and enrolled in graduate school.  I found connection and success by helping college students.  I found that I was also employing many of my strengths and talents.  But my early career was not without its hurdles.  I had a couple of positions that were not good fits but I learned so much at each school.  After leaving one of these early positions I had the opportunity to teach at a community college.  I found another aspect of my calling as an educator. 

Within my career path I experienced two major setbacks with the loss of positions.  In each position loss I saw the face of the enemy at work.  The enemy was clouding from me the vision and calling about what was planned by God.  Bill Peel in his book also talks about the experience that everyone should be let go from a job at least once.  It challenges your resolve, your identity, and your integrity.  I can stand on solid ground that in each instance my integrity was intact and I could walk knowing that I had stood on principles.  But I still had two job losses within two years.  It’s times like these that certainly challenge your resolve, faith, and decisions.  

After the second loss this past summer I challenged God.  Several times I sat up at night asking “Why me again?”  I would question if working with college students was what I was called to do.  Was this really where I should be?  When I started to consider work outside of academe, nothing made sense.  These positions did not have the right “feeling” for lack of a better term.  They were out of alignment for who God has prepared me to be. 

I knew that I could not stay in that space for long.  I set my faith firm that God has a plan for me.  These earlier experiences helped prepare me for my current work with students and in my current position.  I know that working with students (to help them grow) is what God has prepared me to be.  Following my final contract day I had two interviews scheduled.  They were similar positions but at two very different schools. 

I pondered the messages from Romans 8:28 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 - 18 and that before I went on any other interviews I needed His agenda leading me more.  I prayed for clarity about where I needed to be and what did I need to be doing?

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

2 Corinthians 3: 17 – 18 (NIV)

17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

I was only a couple of days off contract when I was offered an interview.  The night before the interview I sat in my hotel room and prayed for God’s guidance and wisdom.  If this was His plan for me so let it be.  If this is the right place then all of the pieces will come together.  Well the pieces came together rather quickly.  And because of how these pieces have come together with a great position that is in alignment with what He wants me to do and a new Church family that supports my family and me, I know in my spirit that this is where we need to be.  We are surrounded by good people.  And the students in my new institution are the best I have ever worked with in 20 years in this profession as a college student educator. 

The pieces have all come into alignment.  I know that this is the case because I feel revived and passionate about my work.  It is through this faith that I am certain this is the work that I was prepared to do.  I know that where I am at now I can do the work that is for God’s glory and it is work that expands His kingdom.  And for that I know that I am blessed.