Hello? Calling all Israelites...

Callings. Really, what are they all about? Are they about you, about someone else, about God? Its all very confusing.

I've been trying to jot down notes on callings, but to be perfectly honest, I didn't come up with anything that profound on my own.

Recently I've been struggling with feeling lost in my walk (and no, we're not talking about in the six thousand isles of my local WalMart). I just feel like I'm spiritually drifting. In years past I always felt "called" to do something; to serve on a committee, to volunteer for church nursery, to go on mission trips. But recently I just feel lost.

My husband Will sweetly reminded me that all Christians go through some form of this with ups and downs in their spiritual mojo. And then he started reading to me from Numbers.

So Numbers, cliff-notes version: There were a lot of "lost" people [Israelites] who were constantly trying to figure out where they were supposed to be. God had appointed them a leader [Moses] through whom He spoke. The Israelites were always doing something wrong because they didn't listen to God, and Moses was always having to intercede on their behalf.

At this point in the story I turned to Will and said "So what is up with the Israelites? Do they just not get it? Do they not understand that they need to just follow God's will?" To which Will replied, "Well, you see...the Israelites always assumed that God was with them no matter what choices they made. Whereas Moses before making any decision sought out God's will in prayer, and in doing such received specific instructions for his next move." I had to think about that one for a minute and then said "Ooohhhhh. So what you're telling me is maybe if I ask about my calling in prayer then maybe I'll be given direction instead of wandering aimlessly through my spiritual desert?" Bingo.

Since praying about my calling I can't say that God has appeared to me in a huge cloud like He did to Moses. But I can say I'm not feeling as lost as I was. And who knows, maybe my calling will call me soon.

If you're feeling lost spiritually I urge you to pray for direction. Ask God to remove the barriers in front of you and set before you a clean path. And always know, you're not alone in that desert, there's always God, and me, and the millions of Israelites.