From Edie: Wondering if your story matters? Discover how God uses ordinary experiences, unexpected seasons, and personal testimony to reveal your calling.
How Writers and Communicators Can Discover Their Calling Through Life's Unexpected Seasons
by Kennita (Kay) Williams
Twenty-eight years ago, I married my husband, Nick.
One month later, I packed my bags, said goodbye to family and everything familiar, and boarded a plane to England on Air Force orders.
I was young, newly married, and far from home.
At the time, I had no idea that experience would become part of the story God would later use to reveal my calling.
Years later, we received another set of orders, this time from the Sunshine State of Florida to Alaska.
In December.
The timing could not have felt more opposite.
We traded palm trees for snow-covered landscapes. We exchanged sunshine for darkness. Temperatures dropped below zero, and daylight seemed to disappear as quickly as it arrived.
If I am honest, I struggled.
I wondered why God would move us from a place that felt comfortable and familiar to a place that felt cold, isolated, and difficult.
But what I could not see at the time was that God was not simply changing my location.
He was positioning me for my purpose.
Isn’t that often how God works?
Sometimes the places we would never choose become the places where we discover who we are.
Many writers and communicators wrestle with similar questions.
Does my story matter?
Does anyone need to hear what I have to say?
Am I really called to share this message?
The enemy loves to use these questions to keep us silent.
He whispers lies that tell us we are unqualified, unprepared, or unimportant.
But God has a different perspective.
As I settled into life in Alaska, I began meeting young Air Force spouses.
Many of them were experiencing exactly what I had experienced years before.
They were newly married.
Far from home.
Trying to navigate military life.
Searching for community.
Wondering if they belonged.
And suddenly, something clicked.
I realized that the very experiences I had once questioned were now equipping me to help someone else.
What I had survived became someone else’s encouragement.
What I had learned became someone else’s roadmap.
What I had overcome became someone else’s hope.
The darkness I feared was actually creating an opportunity for light.
Jesus reminds us in Matthew 5:14:
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”
God was not asking me to have all the answers.
He was simply asking me to shine where He had placed me.
So, I partnered with the chapel and started several small groups.
I opened my home.
I trained others to facilitate small groups.
I listened to stories.
I shared my own.
I became a mentor.
Not because I had everything figured out, but because I was willing to share what God had taught me along the way.
What I discovered in that season transformed how I view calling.
Calling is not always found on a stage.
It is often found in simple acts of obedience.
It is found in conversations.
In encouragement.
In showing up.
In using your testimony to remind someone else they are not alone.
As writers and communicators, we sometimes believe our calling requires a large audience.
We assume our message must be extraordinary to make a difference.
But throughout Scripture, God consistently uses ordinary people with ordinary stories to accomplish extraordinary purposes.
Consider Esther.
Consider Moses.
Consider the Samaritan woman at the well.
None of them felt fully qualified.
Yet God used their experiences, their voices, and their willingness to obey.
Ephesians 2:10 reminds us:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Notice that God prepared the works before we ever arrived.
The same is true for us.
Long before we write the article, deliver the speech, or share the testimony, God has already prepared the people who need to hear it.
Our responsibility is not to determine whether our words matter.
Our responsibility is to be faithful with what He has given us.
Today, when I look back on that move to Alaska, I no longer remember only the darkness or the negative temperatures.
I remember the people.
I remember the conversations.
I remember discovering that my experiences had value.
I remember finding my calling.
And I wonder how many communicators are standing in their own version of Alaska right now.
Perhaps you’re in a season that feels uncertain.
Perhaps you’re questioning whether your voice matters.
Perhaps you’re wondering if anyone needs your story.
Let me encourage you:
The experiences you have walked through were not wasted.
The lessons you have learned were not accidental.
The testimony God has written in your life may be the very thing someone else needs to find hope.
Do not allow fear to silence your voice.
Do not allow doubt to diminish your calling.
God placed your story in your hands for a reason.
Write it.
Share it.
Trust Him with it.
Because sometimes the place that feels the darkest is the very place where God reveals the light and the calling you were meant to carry all along.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the seasons and experiences that have shaped our lives. Help us to trust that nothing we have walked through is wasted in Your hands. When doubt causes us to question our calling, remind us that You have equipped us with a unique story, perspective, and testimony.
Give us confidence to share the message You have entrusted to us. Help us to shine Your light wherever You place us and to trust that You are already preparing hearts to receive what You have called us to communicate.
May our words bring encouragement, hope, and truth to those who need it most.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
TWEETABLE
Excellent post. Very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteKay, I needed this today. God used it. Thank you!
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