Join your Christ Church sisters on a year-long journey toward wellness and wholeness. Every two months, we’ll consider an important dimension of our lives and offer practical steps to help us move in the right direction: closer to good health and closer to God.

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Resources for November + December

VOCATIONAL WELLNESS

“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  Ephesians 4:1 NIV

For our final Women’s Wellness 2022 focus, we’re taking a close look at Vocational Wellness. We often think of our vocation as something we do in a workplace setting, but the idea is much broader than that, since the word means “calling.”

 

“Vocation does not come from a voice out there calling me to be something I am not.  It comes from a voice in here calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God.”

— Thomas Merton

 

All during this holy season and in the new year to come, we’re encouraging our sisters in Christ to listen carefully for His calling, to study the Scriptures for His leading, and to examine our natural talents and spiritual gifts, seeking His divine guidance for how best to use them for His kingdom.

 

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
— Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC

 

Here are some beloved Scripture verses that speak to our calling in Christ. Which one speaks to you? 

   

• "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."
  2 Peter 1:3 NIV
  
  
• “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10 NIV
  
  
• “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
  
  
• “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” Isaiah 6:8 NIV
  
  
• "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24 NIV
  
  
• “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11 NIV

 

"Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears,
and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude.”
― Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

To explore your vocational wellness, consider these recommended reads:

• Your Vocational Credo: Practical Steps to Discover Your Unique Purpose by Deborah Koehn Loyd https://amzn.to/3ARcLoH
• Following God with All Your Heart: Believing and Living God's Plan for You by Elizabeth George https://amzn.to/3F9OwVx
• Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer https://amzn.to/3XL6kgQ
• Heart Speak: A Visual Interpretation of Let Your Life Speak by Sherrill Knezel https://amzn.to/3idxGvM
• The Good and Beautiful You: Discovering the Person Jesus Created You to Be by James Bryan Smith https://amzn.to/3iq3kGI
• Chase the Fun: 100 Days to Discover Fun Right Where You Are by Annie F. Downs https://amzn.to/3gNVSoi
• Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team by Simon Sinek https://amzn.to/3AWcWiD
• The Source of Vocational Wellness by Tinasha Gray https://amzn.to/3VFO5HI

 

“Behind every specific call, whether it is to teach or preach or write or encourage or comfort, there is a deeper call that gives shape to the first: the call to give ourselves away.” ― Michael Card, The Walk

 

For vocational wellness, you might find these online resources helpful:

• Find the Purpose of Work by Creating Purpose in Your Work https://www.betterup.com/blog/purpose-of-work
  
• How Can I Know What My Spiritual Calling Is? https://www.compellingtruth.org/spiritual-calling.html
• How Do I Know What God Is Calling Me to Do? https://melanieredd.com/how-do-i-know-what-god-is-calling-me-to-do/
  
• Exploring Your Spiritual Gifts https://www.umc.org/en/content/exploring-your-spiritual-gifts
• How Should Christians Think Through Career Choices? https://www.acc.edu.au/blog/how-should-christian-think-through-career-choice/
• Healing and Wholeness in Christ: Vocational Wellness http://www.saintlukedevon.org/blog/2019/3/15/8grxrruxzd3ed2cdznzv3lp4i4jy2j

“Our strongest gifts are usually those we are barely aware of possessing. They are a part of our God-given nature, with us from the moment we drew   first breath, and we are no more conscious of having them than we are of breathing.”

― Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

Some thoughts about pursuing your calling from our Women’s Ministry Team:

 

“I didn’t fully understand and develop my gifts until I started doing volunteer work and service. I quickly understood what I could do best and was amazed at the gifts others brought to the table. I pray every day for God to show me where I am needed. It can be a smile in the grocery store, a helping hand, or just a phone call to someone. I work at stretching my faith each day.” — Bekki Livingston, Director of Women’s Ministry

 

“Ask God to show you what you are truly passionate about. The only one who can limit possibilities is me!” — Michele Moody, Connections Team Leader

 

“I hear God’s call the best when I spend time in listening silence. After I’ve prayed for others, after I’ve asked God for wisdom and transformation in myself, after all my ‘intercessions and supplications,’ I try to sit still and listen to what God has to tell me. The process of Lectio Divina requires anticipatory silence—letting God speak to you through and after scripture reading. One of my favorite pastors always asks, ‘Lord, what do you want me to know, to do, or to become today?’ I love this question! It challenges me to really listen to what God wants me to do now with the gifts he has given me today.” — Shelah Woodruff, Mom’s Ministry Leader

 

“Scripture assures us that God never changes: ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.’ (James 1:17) But God’s calling may change, even as we change. He may have one task planned for a particular season of our lives, then call us to something else in the next season. That’s definitely been my own experience over the last four decades! You can be certain, whatever gifts are needed for each calling, God will generously provide. ‘For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever!’ (Romans 11:36).” — Liz Curtis Higgs, Bible Study Leader