rest, part four

4. rest: distinguishing between need, ability, season, and calling

After the last post I received an email asking an excellent question about how to distinguish between need, ability, season, and calling. Here are some of the principles I call upon to navigate through those challenging waters:

• A wise missiologist, Steve Hawthorne, once said to me, "Alicia, you have a lot of dreams and ideas. That's okay, because you have a whole lifetime to live them." His words challenged me to realize that all of the things I feel called to do don't need to be done TODAY. The longings and interests and giftings in my heart are going to be realized throughout my entire lifetime.
  
• There's a great deal of difference between saying, "I volunteer because there's a need" and "I volunteer because there's a God."
  
• The greatest gift I can give people I need to say "no" to is to be faithful to those God calls me to say "yes" to.
• Personally, God leads me through peace, not stress. If I feel stressed about saying "no" I give myself more time. It is much easier to ask for more time to pray than to reverse a hastily uttered "yes" later on.
• God's primary prerequisite for calling people to a task is not gifting. Because I am able to do something well, that does not mean that God is calling me to do it.