{"id":4936,"date":"2013-09-10T14:00:02","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T21:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=4936"},"modified":"2013-09-10T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T21:00:02","slug":"musings-the-4-stages-of-gods-calling-for-me-at-least","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/musings-the-4-stages-of-gods-calling-for-me-at-least\/","title":{"rendered":"Musings: The 4 Stages of God&#8217;s Calling (for me, at least!)"},"content":{"rendered":"<style><!--p.padding {padding-left:.5cm;}--><\/style>\n<p><em><center>Poet Tiffanie Shanks of Ohio visits The Pacific Northwest to draw inspiration for a project.<\/center><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Musings &#038; Younger Perspectives:<\/em><br \/>\n<strong>The 4 Stages of God\u2019s Calling (for me, at least!)<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>By Tiffanie Shanks<\/em>  | <em>Photos by Jesse N. Love<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Truth: I have never, knowingly or intentionally, chosen to run from God\u2019s calling for me. Not that I haven\u2019t gotten in the way, or been tempted to \u201crun for the hills\u201d. I simply have never done so on purpose.<\/p>\n<p>When God does call me to do something and I recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit, no matter how great or seemingly miniscule the feat may be, I experience four distinct stages before I can fully commit to the call that has been placed over me.&nbsp;Secretly I hope I\u2019m not the only one.&nbsp;<br \/>\n<!--more My 4 Stages...(more)--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage 1: Overwhelming Excitement<\/strong><br \/>\nIn this moment I am so shocked that I truly understand what God is asking of me (a rare commodity for anyone who has ever tried it) I literally can\u2019t handle it! I am consumed by the joy that comes from realizing that God would honestly choose me. There is nothing more humbling and more encouraging than knowing that God is actively and overtly present in your life. I can\u2019t imagine spending my time doing anything other than pursuing and engaging this call. Forget the fact that I\u2019m pretty sure God has called me to all of the other things in my life at some point. This is it! Let\u2019s do it!!!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage 2: Paralyzing Doubt<\/strong><br \/>\nOh wait. What was that? A random thought that maybe I\u2019m not worthy?! Why would God choose me? No matter how hard I try I can\u2019t make sense of it all. What about all of the ways that I\u2019ve messed up lately? This must be a mistake! Not God\u2019s mistake\u2026 mine. God wouldn\u2019t choose me for this. There are so many people better equipped than me. They have more experience, more wisdom, more influence, more respect! Forget the fact that scripture shows us that God never uses the likely candidate. What will happen to me if this is true? Can I afford to sacrifice the resources that I need to invest in this call; money, time, space, the other things that I was called to that I am no longer? What do I care about that I\u2019ll have to walk away from? I bet I can find an issue of pride, selfishness, envy, greed, or the like in all of this somewhere. My heart couldn\u2019t possibly be in the right place. I don\u2019t want to do this for the glory of God but for my own glory\u2026 I know it!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage 3: Reluctant Obedience<\/strong><br \/>\nAll right. Now that I\u2019m over myself, it\u2019s time for some honesty whether I like it or not. I cannot deny that this was God. I\u2019ve never been someone to run from God when I knew it was God leading me. Maybe I don\u2019t want to do this but\u2026 I will. I must. Out of sheer faithfulness. I must obey. I have to trust. Even though I don\u2019t want to, I do it reluctantly.<\/p>\n<p>Note: The transition from stage 3 to stage 4 is significant and often lasts for a noticeable length of time. It is full of internal and external affirmation. God continues to speak to the heart of the called to remind them of who God is, who God created them to be, and provides evidence as to why&nbsp;they are&nbsp;the right person and&nbsp;it is&nbsp;the right time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stage 4: Relentless Determination<\/strong><br \/>\nOkay. Time to do this, really. God didn\u2019t give me God\u2019s Son, my salvation, reluctantly. God loved me so much that God gave God\u2019s only Son! Rightfully, God will not relent until God has all of me. So I must do this and I must give it everything that God is asking of me. Nothing can stop me anymore. Not even myself! My conviction runs so deep that with God\u2019s help I will complete the charge God has placed before me. You just watch. Just wait and see. The things God is about to do, simply because I\u2019ve made myself available to God are going to be magnificent. I will not relent until I\u2019ve done all I can to show my love and trust and faithfulness. It\u2019s too late to stop me, so don\u2019t try!<\/p>\n<p>Note: Sometimes stage 4 is also full of doubt. I may be relentlessly determined but when my artificial timeline for how things should fall in place isn\u2019t in line with God\u2019s realistic timeline I find myself alternating between doubt and determination. I could alternate quickly or I could settle in for days, maybe weeks, at a time. This is where reminding oneself that God is a God of promises that have never been broken and timelines that have never been predictable is all that\u2019s important. <\/p>\n<p>Stay faithful. Be relentless.<\/p>\n<p><center><em>Tiffanie Shanks is a spoken word poet out of Columbus, Ohio and has presented her work<br \/>at events such as Relevance X.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/index.php?option=com_content&#038;view=category&#038;layout=blog&#038;id=49&#038;Itemid=66\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Channels 65\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Channels_65_cover.jpg?w=696\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td>\n<p class=\"padding\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/index.php?option=com_content&#038;view=category&#038;layout=blog&#038;id=49&#038;Itemid=66\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Channels 65 is NOW AVAILABLE<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\nThe Weapons Free Zone Conversation, Transforming Ministries II, 100 Years of Filipino-American Methodism in North America, US-2 Young Adult Missionaries, Bishop: Imagine No Malaria, Elders: Safe Sanctuary, On Church Accessibility.  Subscribe now! E-mail <a href=\"mailto:jlove@pnwumc.org?Subject=Sign me up for Channels!\">channels@pnwumc.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poet Tiffanie Shanks of Ohio visits The Pacific Northwest to draw inspiration for a project. Musings &#038; Younger Perspectives: The 4 Stages of God\u2019s Calling (for me, at least!) By Tiffanie Shanks | Photos by Jesse N. Love Truth: I have never, knowingly or intentionally, chosen to run from God\u2019s calling for me. Not that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":4942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[111,6,112],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-channels","8":"category-conversation","9":"category-ministries-with-young-people"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/IDEAS_Musings_Tif.jpg?fit=600%2C308&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-1hC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4936"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4949,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936\/revisions\/4949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}