Make the Call.

"_______ is not my calling."
"The Lord has not called me to ______."
"I don't feel called to _________."
"I don't have the patience to _______."
"God has not given me a desire in my heart to ______."

Fill in the blank: Adopt. Missions. Be a SAHM. Work outside the home. Downsize my home. Upsize my home. Home educate. Teach a class. Lead a Bible Study. Have more kids. Share the Gospel. Give $X to this ministry. You know...

Most of us, at one time or another, have made one or more of the statements above. I have, for sure.
I actually told someone, "I guess I'll know for sure that it's time to 'Go' when the U-Haul shows up in my driveway."
Bless. Like a moving truck was gonna drop out of the sky manna-style. Meanwhile, Spouse and I were both saying 'Go' to everybody else to the point of being annoying!
We pray, "Lord, lead us. We will do whatever you tell us to do." That was a sincere prayer of mine. I meant it. "Whatever". "Lead us, Lord."
Problem is, it isn't very specific. I mean, I said "wherever you lead, I'll go"--pretty broad statement. But, what I really meant was an island-type place like somewhere in Central America or even South Florida or the Philippines. But, um, Texas?
Not even on the radar. 
God had never given me a desire in my heart for anything in Texas. Even after we got to Houston and we were so pleasantly surprised at how much we liked it, I just knew that we weren't called to go there. I had two precious, Spirit-filled women that said, in different words, "Hmm...I don't know, Melissa. I'm just sensing something about this with Mark. I don't know..." And, I said, "Well, I do...It's really neat, but I don't think so."When we were coming back to Houston for the second time, I knew I had to ask the Lord very specifically to change our eyesight. I didn't want us blinded by the depression we were feeling over the Manila loss. We had to pray to see Houston with His eyes, to see the opportunity through His eyes. Or, would he close our eyes to Houston? We had to be open to the possibility rather than shut it down before the idea even had room to grow. 
We called on Him.
He answered.

There was this other time...
We had considered homeschooling Meghan from the get-go. I knew of a few homeschoolers, not many, but we wanted to try it. When it came time for kindergarten, I folded. Or was it that I just wasn't "called to homeschool"? I can't say that I was really called to put her in public school, either?
A friend said to me. "I understand, Melissa, if you aren't called to homeschool, but that only flies if you can tell me that you were called to put her in school. " 
Well, I don't know, really. I don't know because I didn't specifically ask the Lord if I was called to put my child in public school! Still, I would encourage other people to homeschool, even loan out my books on homeschooling (Yes, I had books-that I bought from the homeschool convention !! when Meghan was 3.)
Just like waiting on that U-Haul to show up in my driveway, I guess I was waiting on a shipment of curriculum or something!
It wasn't going to happen.
We had to make the call.

Even now, I hesitate to admit...
There has been discussion in our home about adoption. We are very much in the 'thinking about it- not called' stage. We are ALL, as Believers, called to champion the cause of widows and orphans. 

Our family definitely does this, we just need to specifically pray that we would be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this area without dismissing the call of adoption as one that isn't for us. I don't want us to say, "I haven't been called to adopt" unless we can undoubtedly say, "I've been called not to adopt."

Oh, dear. I may never publish this post.

We've done it before, ya know? Adopt.
Bless. The last time we adopted, we adopted my teenage brother. We knew what we were to do. We didn't have enough good sense to think about too much and we were just cocky enough not to ask too many people for their opinions. I believe this was a good thing. At 22 years old, I don't think many people would have advised it. It wasn't practical. We didn't have the money. We didn't have the space. God isn't always, even usually, practical. He is God. He provided all that we needed and then some. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't change a thing.

When we call to him, He tells us great and mighty things we do not know.
We have to make the call.

Adopt.
Leave a job and start over.
Get involved in short-term missions.
Begin living a healthy lifestyle.
Get involved in long-term missions.
Marketplace missions. (I just made that up.)
Downsize in order to give more.
Write a book.
Move to an inner city apartment.
Take someone dinner.
Share the Gospel with your favorite barista.
Put one foot in front of the other today.
Start a business.
Sponsor a child through Compassion.
Offer forgiveness to another undeserving person.
Leave your comfortable hometown.
Go back to school.
Offer your house up for a Bible Study.
Homeschool your crazy kids.
Become a foster parent.
Maybe it is just getting out of bed today.

I just want to be able to say that I am called NOT to do something, if I say I'm not called TO do something. Does this resonate with anybody?

Make the call.
I will, too.