FEATURE: PICKING UP HEAVENS MEGAPHONE

A lot of people saw Emma Watson’s speech. It made some serious waves in advancing the partnership of men and women in challenging gender inequality. She ended her speech by posing two questions: if not me, who? If not now, when?

This speech inspired me and these questions deeply moved me. It stirred in me a desire to discover what change lay on the other end of those questions for me. What faith it required and what message I wanted to take to the world. But as inspired as I was by her words and as committed as I am to that cause I realised I lack her conviction. These questions rocked me. And since hearing that speech I’ve been searching for the statement to precede those questions.

Proverbs 29:18 warns us of the perils of having no vision: ‘where there is no vision, the people perish’ and since hearing those questions I have spent many hours ruminating on them trying to understand what voice God has given me, what song He has chosen for me to sing. I’ve heard people ask many times how they discover their calling in life, how they tap into what God has for them. And while I feel that my understanding of God’s full potential in my life is somewhat nascent I have certainly learned a few things along the way.

The first thing I painstakingly realised was that the world doesn’t need me. God doesn’t need me. But He did choose me. He made me a certain way, born at a specific point in time, in a specific geographical location because He wanted a certain element of Himself to be played out through me. I was made to reflect God’s glory in a way that no one else can. I was designed by an intelligent, divine, unfailing maker. I do not believe that God makes mistakes. And so I must therefore accept that He ordained to make me in a way that He did not make everyone else. And the same is absolutely true for you. Humans share 99.9% of their DNA but that 0.1%- the bit that makes you you, that’s where the magic is.

Finding your voice among the white noise of modern day life is a thankless and exhausting task given the staggering weight of inequality, the horrendous atrocities that are immeasurably sad and far too often and the gross injustices that far too many experience. But it is possible, and often, almost accidental. I believe wholeheartedly in the verse:

‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14’I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD,’ (Jeremiah 29:12-14)

I believe God does listen to the cries of His people’s hearts, He hears our yearnings and knows our desires. And I believe that there is a point where with the right objectivity, looking at your passions, what energises you and what keeps you up at night align to reveal what really makes your heart beat. I believe it’s there in everyone, you just have to train yourself to see it in focus.

Finding your calling is like picking up heaven’s megaphone. I see it written all over those who are thriving in their calling. Those who operate daily in using their gifts, who know their voice, who have found their song and learnt how to sing it. I believe when we really tap into who we were born to be, what God created in us to do, the dreams He birthed when He first dreamt us up as He lay the foundations of the earth we can easily renew our mind, strengthen our resolve and find peace in the chaos of walking that out.

I hope that reading this has given you cause for hope if you needed it or encouragement. I pray that it resonates with someone grappling with these questions. Because this is my journey and this has been a very real struggle for me over the past few years. I’d love to hear some feedback from you if this has impacted you in any way.