Freedom on the Road to Calling

07.10.2020 by Tracy Stella //

Welcome friends! We’re so glad you’re here! This month we’re talking about freedom and calling, two things Jesus is very concerned about for us and others. We hope you’ll check in each week to see what He’s placed on our hearts. We trust this message is His message, and He has freedom planned and purposed for each of us as we engage with Him. For those of us walking free, we pray a deeper level of freedom. For those of us still captive, we pray He sets us free through our calling.

Christ has paid the price of our admission to enter through freedom’s gates. Let’s walk through every gate He opens.

What is a calling? According to Merriam Webster, it is a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence.1

As God’s children guided by divine influence, we have a high calling on our lives. Each of us is placed where we are with whom we are for a reason. Our location and vocation are not accidental; they are providentional. If God establishes our steps (and He does), each paver we walk upon is there for purpose. Sometimes, the steps He has us take lead to freedom for ourselves. Other times, those steps are intended to liberate someone else. Captives are set free along the way in God’s efficient nature─a bit of me, you, we all at once.

Recently, I had a client unexpectedly pass away. It was like a spiritual slap in the face, a wake-up call. The volume of my tears was large, and I was in absolute shock. As I processed my feelings, I thought to myself, “I need to pray with more intention.” I always pray for my clients, but this kind man’s passing made me realize I need to pray more and more specifically for them in light of eternity. Maybe the person we encounter and pray for never comes to know Jesus. But maybe they do. What if God brought them to me for that specific purpose? What if He’s put someone in your path for that divine reason too? I don’t want to miss that high calling.

Faith is a personal choice. As believers we need to respect where others are on their faith journey. Force feeding someone Jesus is likely to have the reverse effect. Like a baby being coerced to eat smashed squash, they could spit Christ out because we didn’t let them taste and see His goodness for themselves. But that doesn’t mean we can’t pray for those God has placed in our path, nor does it mean we can’t try to walk out our own lives in such a way as to create curiosity in others. Side note: Jesus gave us free will because He wants us to choose Him. Let’s stay out of God’s way and give others the choice to choose Him. Pray and stay out of God’s way. He’ll let us know if and when we need to take action.

I meet a lot of people doing what I do. I’m a REALTOR®. To say buying and selling a home is an emotional process is a bit of an understatement. The stakes are high and even if the person’s home sale or purchase is for a happy reason, it can be a bit of a roller coaster ride. Often my job is helping level out the peaks and valleys. I love getting to celebrate with clients as I’m let into a very treasured life event. It’s sweet and special much of the time. Tears of joy, laughter, and happy dancing, they’re all part of the calling. (Who said calling had to be all work and no play?)

What I’d never given thought to before becoming a REALTOR® is the amount of ministry opportunities within this career path God has placed me on. Honestly, until something impacts us (or at least me) we can be oblivious. As I got into things, I realized people die and their estate needs to handle the selling of their loved one’s home. Hard! So hard! Those folks need a compassionate person to sit with them in their grief. They likely need someone to help them make decisions, because they’ve already had to make some pretty difficult ones that weigh heavy on the heart. They need someone who can help them navigate dark waters, with many people often involved who are all dealing with the loss of their loved one in different ways. Sometimes, we just have conversation human to human. We can leave the home sale talk for later if need be. Maybe what’s called for in that moment is a shoulder to cry on or ears that can hear their favorite memory of their loved one. It’s a sacred space.

What sacred space is God calling you to enter?

God gives me women who have had to navigate divorce and need help finding a home. I’ve made a personal choice I will not proactively market to women or men getting a divorce, because it feels contradictory to the calling God has placed on my life to help married couples work on their marriage and stay together. But before I was a believer I did get divorced, and so I can certainly understand many of the emotions my clients experience. It’s another very hard season that needs to be grieved, even if we don’t realize it. I try to point them to hope. Hope helps! I remember one time I was talking with a client in a vacant home for so long Sam got worried for my safety and came to check on me. I was okay, but the one God had placed before me wasn’t. She needed to be heard and God wanted me to listen. When He uses bits from our bio, His desire is for us to connect. Those “me too” moments can make all the difference in the world to someone going through something God already helped us through.

What “me too” moment is God calling you to share with someone in need of hope?

There are joyous occasions, newlyweds in need of a home, excited about what the future holds. It’s so much fun to help them dream and envision building their life together. Sometimes, they need advice, occasionally it’s about real estate. (Wink, Wink) Helping people buy homes, in particular, creates a close connection. You get the opportunity to know someone exceptionally well through the process. Along the way in the course of natural conversation, people tell you things, personal things. I have had the best time getting to know people’s stories. Isn’t that something Jesus would want us to do? Whatever you do for a living, maybe God is leading you to ask someone to share their story (even if that feels far outside your comfort zone). You learn some pretty amazing things about people. Entering others’ story changes ours jobs from a career to a calling.

How is God nudging you to shift your mindset from career to calling?

God once placed it on my heart to do something kind for a person who had been a bit difficult. Okay. A lot difficult. I’m glad I listened to that still, small voice. He knew what that person had been through in life. I had no idea. Clueless with a capital C. So, I did this thing God asked me to and it caught the person off guard. Unexpected kindness created an opportunity for another human being to feel safe enough to open up. A lot. Hearing that person’s story softened my heart faster than melting ice cream on a 90 degree day. I’d say, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But perhaps we should in that if there is difficulty dealing with so and so, there must be a reason. If the outside reads hard, the inside is probably hurt. Life’s tribulations can lead to prickly people, because they’re just about protecting themselves at this point. That’s what God showed me. This person was in deep pain. From that point on, I had a completely different thought process about this person. They hadn’t changed, but I had.

Who is God calling you to see from a different perspective? What act of kindness can you engage in on their behalf?

If you like to be in control of things, don’t become a REALTOR®. This job has sanctified me about 1000 times over! I have control over my actions (on a good day), but I have no control over anyone else’s. If you play poker but only have half the hand and have no idea what the other player’s cards are, that’s real estate. I know things to look out for. I know what SHOULD happen. But I only get to see my client’s piece of the transaction. I try to have order and process for the things within my control, but there are a lot of players in this real estate game: buyer, seller, 2 agents, 2 attorneys, home inspector, appraiser, sometimes extra family members, and occassionally interfering neighbors. (Oh, the stories I could tell.) All those other people and their actions, I can’t control one little bit.

God has brought me (and continues to bring me) freedom in this job. Freedom from letting my emotions boss me around. Most of the time I do a pretty good job of that now. Occasionally, I need God’s grace to rush back in and point me back on the path of freedom. This job has helped me to trust God on a whole new level. We do what we can and give the rest to God. The things that I know to do, I do them. The things I can’t “make happen” make me pray even more fervently. Sometimes, I get inspiration and direction on how to proceed. Sometimes, I’m called to sit a spell and let God do what only He can do. It is a gift (and a relief) to know and believe in my heart that God’s the One in charge of the outcome.

What’s something within your control God is asking you to take action on? What is at least one area of your calling God is asking you to relinquish control of and trust Him with the outcome?

Just this week I had a moment where I let fear creep into my calling. It wasn’t good. I was concerned that this or that wouldn’t happen. And then if that didn’t happen, then this, and this, and this might happen. My momentary setback was a good reminder that as much as I want to be like Jesus, sometimes I’m like the leper and need some healing along the way myself.

How does God desire to bring healing to you through your calling?

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Emphasis added)

Luke 17:11-19 NIV

My prayer is that more times than not you and I will look a little more like Jesus. As we travel along the way walking out the calling God has on our lives that we will never be too busy to pause and “take pity” on someone. We don’t want someone to have to stand from afar off shouting for attention. Like Jesus, He’d want us to be attentive to the ones He places before us.

What if others are “cleansed” because they encountered the love of Jesus through us? Maybe that means salvation. Maybe that means healing (or the beginning of that journey for them). Shouldn’t we stop? Jesus was busy, but not too busy to stop for lepers like you and me.

What will we do if we help a lot of people and we don’t always feel appreciated? Remember, the scripture above. Ten were cleansed, but only one came back to thank Jesus. I’ll speak for myself in this, but I wonder how many times Jesus has done things for me that I never bothered to say “thank you” for. I thank Him, but do I thank Him for everything? No.

So another person’s gratitude can’t be our motivator if we are Christ’s children. We need to stop because Jesus stops. He stopped for each of us (and He still stops for us when we need to catch up to Him).

What if in that process we are like the leper ourselves? As we go about our calling and connecting with people along the way, what if He leads us to someone intended to help bring healing to us? Wouldn’t we hope someone would stop?

As we are going, let’s not forget our high calling to STOP for others.

———————-

Consider spending time with God processing the questions in this piece. Grab a notebook, pray, write the question, and journal a response. I pray God will reveal His heart for you and others during that set aside time.

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page. (INSERT LINK)

1 “Calling.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calling.

How Has God Brought Life and Liberty to You?

07.04.2017 by Tracy Stella //

If you’re an American, you’ve probably heard the expression “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Surrender.”

What’s that? That’s NOT what the Declaration of Independence says?

“Oh,” she says sheepishly. “That’s right. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Yeah, yeah, that’s it! Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Well, this month at Facets of Faith we explore “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Surrender”─no disrespect to our nation’s founding fathers. Settle into a cozy chair, put up your pedicured toes (after all it is summer), and sip on some iced tea as you read about life, liberty and the pursuit of surrender.

I (Tracy) kick us off. Jennifer and Kim follow in the weeks ahead, so don’t miss their contribution to the conversation. Feel free to chime in yourself. We’d love to hear your life, liberty and pursuit of surrender stories too!

Have you ever lay dream-filled eyes on something and thought, “Now that’s what I want for myself”? Most of us want life. Most of us want liberty. And most of us want happiness. But surrender? Forget about it!

What might me miss if we decide not to embrace surrender with a welcoming hug? What if we bristle like a cactus and back away from God? “Don’t touch me! Quit poking! That hurts!”

Let’s face it. Sometimes surrender does hurt. Sometimes surrender keeps poking and prodding as we feel like an ember as the fire glows orange. Surrender’s heat sanctifies. Surrender’s heat says, I’ve got a better way. Surrender’s heat says, Follow me into the fiery furnace.

Who wants to join me?

Now don’t everyone raise their hands at once!

What’s the problem when we don’t surrender? (Every time God asks us to)

We’re not going to find liberty. We’re not going to live as God intended, and that’s no way to live at all. Christ died so we could have abundant life. In light of His sacrifice, why wouldn’t we want to live our lives to the fullest, even if it requires surrender that sometimes pokes and prods a bit more than we wish?

Our selfish, sinful nature says, I want what I want. Whatever makes me happy? I’ll grab at that!

We may or may not recognize our behavior, but we all have a sin nature. Awareness is what helps us surrender it to God bit by bit. Some things God shows me as sin now, I would never have recognized as such years ago.

Subtly, slowly (but then again not) He sets me a little freer. Each decision of surrender moves me closer to whom God intended me to be all along. Pure. Holy. Righteous.

I’m already Beloved. You too! Those other bits? They’re the work God is moving toward as He paints His masterpiece in each of us. We’re His workmanship and we’re made in His image. That’s why, if we love Him, we’ve got to cooperate with His plan.

Cooperation requires surrender to His authority.

I don’t always understand God’s plan. That’s good. It grows my faith. It grows me. Growing pains aren’t just for teenage boys.

Sometimes the growth, and the pain in that growth, helps me to have humility─not something that comes naturally to most. Certainly not to me. I, Me, My … not so humble.

And this is from a woman who wants to be, who loves Jesus, loves herself, and loves others albeit very imperfectly! But my “want to” isn’t broken. I want to do what God wants me to do. I want to be who God wants me to be. But oh brother can I not be sometimes!

Please tell me I’m not the only one.

God walked me through a situation where I didn’t meet someone’s expectations. It was devastating to my spirit. I’ve spent a lifetime of trying to do my best, to be my best and always put my best foot forward — perfectly. Everything in order. Everything just so. Best, best, best — must always do the best. Root deep, God keeps ripping away at it. Like a weed, He’s going to pull it all the way out. Ouch!

Why?

None of that matters! None of it! It doesn’t mean the people aren’t important. It doesn’t mean the project wasn’t important. It means I matter to God more than what He asked me to do.

What’s one thing I learned in my surrender moment?

I matter more to God than what He asks me to do. And He wanted to know if His approval mattered to me enough to outweigh others who didn’t see what I accomplished, didn’t see sacrifices made. Would His approval be enough? Would it be okay to my identity, my self-esteem if no one beside Him recognized one thing I did in that season?

I didn’t like it at first. I got mad. I’m used to relying on my performance. It’s been an AWESOME coping mechanism.

coping mechanism

noun, Psychology.

1. an adaptation to environmental stress that is based on conscious or unconscious choice and that enhances control over behavior or gives psychological comfort.

Compare defense mechanism (def 2).1

The problem with coping mechanisms is it’s all about cover up. Cover Girl doesn’t have anything on this girl’s coping mechanisms God’s chipping away at.

Do you see the key word in the definition? Control! And a close runner up? Psychological comfort!

I had poured my heart and soul into this project, and no one noticed (or so it seemed). It’s as if God blinded their eyes from seeing what I know and those in my inner circle know. Beyond that? Blind as a bat. Would I be okay with that?

I opened the gift God intended.

Yes! Yes, I would be okay with that!

Others’ blindness to my performance gave me freedom. It stung at first, like when sweat drips down into your eyes from hard work. But then, God gave me new vision, He removed the salty tears that blurred and gave me perspective.

I surrendered to Him, audience of One whose eyes see all that I do, all that you do too. He doesn’t miss a thing.

He says, Good job! I see you. I love you! You are Mine. I know this was a hard lesson for you to learn, but isn’t it liberating? You’re not measured by what you do. I want more than that for you. You don’t have to try so hard. Rest in Me. Listen for My voice. Please Me. Don’t worry about the others. Perhaps when the time is right I will reveal to them. For now, you’ve learned a valuable lesson. I love you no matter what! And you will not always meet other people’s expectations no matter what you do, so stop trying so hard to do so. Just do what I ask you to do. No more. No less. No matter what, you are enough. Remember what I told you. You are good enough and sometimes good enough is good enough.

For a woman who has had a tight grip on performance as her security blanket, that sentiment feels foreign, yet liberating to my ears.

God set me a little more free. I stopped striving to earn other’s approval. And in turn I got me back, only a better version, a bit more sanctified. I got a little scorched by the flame. It hurt. But God made it all better in a way only He can. I do care what He thinks. And I’m growing to know I do make Him happy. It’s hard to imagine in my sinful, fallen state.

Coping mechanisms have a way of holding us hostage. God sets His captives free! I don’t have to be an overachiever to be appreciated. Praise Jesus!

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Surrender. Perhaps that’s the key to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The more I surrender, the happier I become.

What about you? How has God brought life and liberty as you pursue surrender?

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

1”Dictionary.com.” Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com n.d. Web. 29 June 2017. <http://www.dictionary.com/>

What Would I Give Up To Maintain My Freedom?

09.06.2016 by Tracy Stella //

For me (Tracy), I think it’s something I have to give up daily. Daily, I need to relinquish control, to surrender to God and all He has for me.

On the surface that sounds simple. God is good. He’s carried me through many a storm. Yet, still I sometimes take control back into my own hands. Fortunately, I don’t carry it as long as I used to. I can more readily recognize the tale-tale signs of carrying too much.

Crankiness, holding my breath, feeling overwhelmed, resentment, and a whole host of behaviors I don’t like seeing manifest are all symptoms of the sickness of taking on more than I am supposed to.

When you’ve crashed and burned like a plane making an emergency landing, you know what it feels like to go down in flames. When I try to take control of the steering instead of allowing God to guide me safely to my destination, it’s never good. Oh, He’ll work it for my good, but I’m bound to hit some turbulence.

Bumpy rides are part of the package when we do things our way rather than God’s. Thankfully, these days it’s not a ten year detour that takes me far off course. When we follow God and seek Him daily, He reroutes us. It’s like when we miss a turn and our GPS says, in 500 feet make a U-Turn. We get a chance to try again before we’re half way around the world flying in the wrong direction.

Giving up control, surrendering to God has to be a daily discipline. I must be intentional in my letting go, so I can let God. Otherwise, all I’m doing is interfering with His plan.

Recently, I heard a radio interview discussing cars without steering wheels becoming commonplace. We’ve all heard of the technology, but are we ready for that reality? Would you give up control of your car to let a computer drive you from point A to point B? What if there’s a virus? Giving up full control of my car to a computer without any override option doesn’t feel safe or wise. Have you ever had to push ctrl, alt, delete to restart your computer?

But God is not a computer with a potential virus that could corrupt the whole plan. God is God and he has a great plan for you and for me. In order for that to be fulfilled we need to follow Him.

In order to maintain my freedom I need to give control to the One who created me in the first place. He created me to be free, to live life to the full. He created me to walk as an expression of Him and His love. I can’t do that if I take back control.

I wish I could say I never did that anymore, that my faith was so rock-solid that I handed over control to God fully and completed for everything each and every day. Not so. I’m better than I was, but I still have a long way to go. These days when I see it I think, Oops that’s not mine to carry. Give it back to God … AGAIN.

I’ve given up control on some big things–very big things. I can be walking in freedom for a long time, and then that not-so-little control freak inside of me waiting to jump out and take charge pops up out of nowhere. Jack get back in your box! I thought I was rid of you. Grrrrr! Who wound you up anyway?

I think now where God has me is this place of giving Him control when I feel very responsible for others. Releasing control doesn’t mean acting on impulse or in irresponsible ways. He’s teaching me it is okay to let go of control; it doesn’t mean mass chaos will ensue. I’m giving control to God who is far more effective than I will ever be, but that He wants me to walk in His image. Lead by His example and definitely give control where it belongs—to God.

He’ll show me the way. He did yesterday, the day before, and the day before that. He’ll do it again.

When I don’t give God control, quite frankly it’s not good. I’m locking myself in a prison of performance, perfectionism, worry, fear, and a host of ill side effects. Clinging to control is tainted, ugly, and an illusion I like to call a lie. We don’t have control. None! Not even an ounce of it. So why do we kid ourselves into thinking we have any? Ridiculous! Can I get an amen?

What happens when we give up control to God in order to maintain our freedom? We get a gift from Him, one He gives every captive set free from the illusion of control that wants to squeeze the very life out of us.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.—Isaiah 26:3 ESV

Perfect peace is part of our walking in freedom. Not partial peace. Perfect peace. When we trust in God, we keep focused on Him. As long as our minds are focused on God, we won’t focus on self and all the things we could, should, would do. Instead, we lean back against Jesus in the boat while the storms are raging outside. We won’t worry about sinking, unless it’s into the arms of our Savior.

That’s an image the Lord gave me ahead of an assignment He called me to. He’s asked me to help women who have been sexually exploited or human trafficked. That can feel daunting and overwhelming, and did for a blip on the radar screen. Until I kept hearing the Lord say, Be still and know that I am the Lord (Psalm 46:10).

I want to do well by these women. They’ve been through terrors unimaginable. I want to execute well. I want to do my best and be an excellent ambassador for Christ. I want all those things and more. I feel God is reassuring me I will, if I surrender my will to His. DAILY. Isn’t that true for us all? With everything?

In order to do the big things of God, we need to say good-bye to the illusion of control. It’s not real. It’s not even reliable. Give God control. He knows where He wants to take you, what you should pack, and who will join you on the journey. Hope you’re ready for an exciting trip!

What is God asking you to do to maintain (or move toward) freedom?

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.