Sometimes life just gets away from us, doesn’t it? I have struggled in recent months with rediscovering
my purpose and calling. I am sure that probably sounds crazy to a lot of people, but I “find” myself in a
place I never dreamed of, both personally and professionally, and now I am trying to figure out what to
do with that. What to do next. What God wants me to do next.
I often get asked, “How do you do it all?,” or “How do you keep up with all you have going on these
days?, and the truth is that I don’t do it all and I don’t keep up with all we have going on. Yes, I’ve always
been very goal oriented, and you can ask anyone who knows me well about what a neurotic list maker I
am. (And whatever you do, do NOT touch the list…don’t scribble on it, don’t draw a smiley face on it,
don’t write an encouraging note on it. I’ll have to start all over. It’s best to just not even LOOK at the
list. That way, we can still be friends.) But there is a whole team of people—family, friends, and
strangers who are soon to be friends–who drank the same Kool-Aid that I did who make the wheels turn
every day in this beautiful circus. From all the locations for 3:16 Healthcare, to all the things happening
at the Farm and Mercantile, we don’t do this alone! Our village is critical.
There are a few lessons in this season of uncomfortable stillness that I feel God is trying to teach me….
maybe someone else needs to hear them too.
I am realizing that too often I have made those lists I love so much an idol. I have stayed so
focused on checking things off and on being productive and on task, that I’ve often missed out
on the real life happening around me. In this period of soul searching, I am learning to slow
down, smell the roses, hear the birds sing, and SEE, HEAR, and TASTE what God is showing me
every glorious day, the beautiful gifts only He can give me. It is absolutely alright if we put our
to-do lists down and just savor in His love.
I have learned that who you surround yourself with is critically important. We are all
influencers, and we can all be influenced. Luke 5: 18-25 tells us about paralyzed man’s friends
who so desperately wanted him to be healed by Jesus that when the crowd was too large for
them to carry him into Jesus through the door, they climbed on top of the house and tore
through the roof and lowered him on his mat down to Jesus. The Bible says, “When Jesus saw
their faith, he said to the man, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’” [Emphasis added.] The
man then was able to stand and walk home! Sometimes when we lose our faith, when we are
too paralyzed by fear or anxiety or just sheer exhaustion to make a move, we need friends to
tear the roof off for us and get us to the Man who can.
You aren’t meant to live out your purpose alone. In the book of Exodus, God’s people, the
Israelites, were in war. As long as Moses held the stick God told him to carry up in the air, the
Israelites were winning; but if he lowered the stick, they would start losing. It was a long day of
battle and Moses’s arms were growing understandably tired and weary. So his brother and his
friend brought over a large rock, made him sit down, and they held his arms up in the air for him
until the battle was won. (Exodus 17) Even when you are living in your purpose, the load can get
heavy. We aren’t meant to do it alone. We need those people who will help us carry the weight
when we can’t go any further. Each of us needs at least somebody who is walking beside us and
is willing to tag in, stand in the gap, or hold your arms up until you reach the finish line together.
God loves me (and you) even more than we love our own children. And just like nothing makes
me happier than to see my babies healthy, happy, smiling, laughing, and doing what they love,
what makes their souls feel alive and on fire, God enjoys the same thing with each of us! He
doesn’t expect us to just be work horses constantly keeping our noses to the grind. We
shouldn’t ever feel guilty about resting or relaxing or enjoying the fruits of His blessings. That
may sound silly to some people, but for me, it has been a real problem—measuring my worth by
my productivity when God created me as so much more than that. I’m learning to also enjoy
the gift of rest. (Rest isn’t earned! Let that sink in….)
God doesn’t really need our help…He’s got it under control. But what brings Him pleasure, what reflects
His glory to a world desperately in need of hope and inspiration, is for each of us to live in the purpose
He has set forth for us. Maybe you’re like me and in a season of transition; one calling has led to
another and this one feels a little scary and uncertain. Maybe you’ve never felt that you found your
purpose at all. What I do know is that each of us has a God-given gift, and gifts are meant to be given,
not kept. The world needs that thing in you that is only yours to give…it could be a form of art, it could
be some kind of labor or skill with your hands, it could be something brand new or something that is old
and time-tested. It could be a small seed of a dream in your heart that sounds impossible, terrifying, or
even silly when you try to say it out loud. Whatever it is, if it makes you feel alive deep down inside, if
you feel excited about it, if just thinking about it makes your heart smile…. then it is part of your
purpose. It is part of God’s plan for you! Yep, it may be terrifying, but like I always tell my kids, ALL
good things start with being a little scared! It doesn’t mean the going will be easy or even make sense
to others, but the fight is different and totally worth it when it is backed by purpose and passion! So
here’s to walking in your calling and living on purpose!
In His love,
Dr. Allison Key
