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6 Must-Ask Questions to Help Find Your Personal Calling

6 Must-Ask Questions to Help Find Your Personal Calling

This article about personal calling is an excerpt from The Catalyst Leader:8 Essentials to Becoming a Change Maker

For five years, I was part of the team that produced Life@Work magazine, a publication committed to wrestling through issues of faith and vocation. We had a definition of personal calling that formed the foundation of our work, and I still believe it to be better than most: “God’s personal invitation for me to work on His agenda, using the talents I’ve been given in ways that are eternally significant.”

For some of us, the invitation just appears in our mailbox one day with our name on it. But for most of us, it takes time and prayer and a period of discerning.

Asking the right questions is crucial for discerning one’s personal calling.

Oftentimes, we fail to ask the correct questions and then wonder why our answers are so dissatisfying. Seeking God’s will for your life begins by asking yourself, “What keeps me awake when I should be falling asleep at night?” The answer will expose what makes you mad, what makes you cry, what lingers in your mind when the world goes dark.

The second question you should ask yourself is, “What wakes me up when I should still be sleeping in the morning?” The answer will uncover what you value, what you’re committed to and what excites you.

Asking questions like these is key to finding the right answers about personal calling.

Here are several others I think are helpful for deciphering God’s invitation to you:

1. What are your passions and gifts? At the intersection of these two elements, you’ll find your purpose in life.

2. What would you work on or want to do for free? That is usually a good sign of what God has designed you to do.

3. What energized you when you were a child? Does it still animate you? Knowing your calling is often directly connected to childhood passions and gifts.

4. If you could do anything and take a pay cut, what would that be? You may have to blow up your financial goals in order to pursue your true calling.

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bradl@churchleaders.com'
Brad Lomenick is Executive Director and key Visionary of Catalyst, a movement of young leaders. Over the last 15 years, he has built a reputation as a key networker and convener of leaders. Prior to running Catalyst, Brad was involved in the growth of the nationally acclaimed Life@Work Magazine and did management consulting with Cornerstone Group. More recently he has served in a number of roles for INJOY and now GiANT Impact. For several years after college, he rode horses for a living on a ranch in Colorado, and was even struck by lightning while installing a barbed wire fence, which some believe has given him powers equal to several of the Super Heroes. He hopes maybe someday he can be a professional golfer, or have his own hunting show.