Episode 46: Pursuing Your Calling - How to Gain Patience and Perseverance in the Journey

Do you feel tired of pursuing the calling God has on your life? It’s taking too long, you haven’t seen the end result - it’s exhausting.

You’re not alone in feeling this way. But, don’t give up.

God’s timing is perfect, even when it feels like it’s taking way too long.

There will be fruit, even if you don’t see it quite yet.

Trust that God is growing you as He helps you pursue your purpose and life calling.

You’ve got this because God’s got this.

EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00 Navigating Frustration in Pursuing Your Calling

02:50 The Journey of Patience and Persistence

05:40 The Power of Obedience and Faith

08:33 Overcoming Fear and Doubt

11:43 The Importance of Prayer and Reliance on God

14:12 Trusting God’s Timing and Harvest

Let's Connect!

YouTube: Stephanie L. Jones

Instagram: @only.God.stories

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GivingGal 

Website: https://shineforwardcreative.com/ 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Are you getting impatient? Are you getting frustrated? Maybe you've been working on what God has called you to do. In the last episode, I talked about how to start before you're ready. Um, but maybe you've worked through the process. You've been working on what God has called you to do. And you're like, Stephanie, I am just not seeing the fruits. I'm frustrated. And the first question I'm gonna ask you is this. But before I get there, hey, I'm Stephanie. I am the host of the Only God podcast, sharing stories only God can write. So here's the first question I want to ask you is how long has it been? We live in this society where there is this instant gratification, right? So we are obsessed. We have this 24-hour news cycle. We have access to see everything that all these other people around us are doing. Maybe we're even watching what other people are doing and we are comparing ourselves, which we are not supposed to compare ourselves to others. It's like stay focused on what God is calling you to do. And maybe you start to feel weary. You're like, okay, I thought I was doing what God called me to do, and I am not seeing any fruits of my labor. So ask yourself how long have you been going at this and working on this and moving forward? I was um listening to a podcast yesterday, and the guy was talking about it took nine to ten years to build out his businesses, and he had a bunch of failures. And so my first tip is I really want you to think about not only like how long have you been working at this, but how much time have you been investing what God has called you to do? Has it been consistent? And then the second thing is going back to what I talked in the last episode, is are there steps that you're not taking because of fear? So maybe there is somebody that you need to be reaching out to. Maybe there's outreach that you need to be doing. Maybe there are social media posts. I am so bad about this, is I get so wrapped up in fear that I just don't even post on social media. Um, you know, and and I don't know what that's all about. Sometimes I just get like, am I writing the right thing? Uh, what are people gonna think? Like we have all again, fear of man, which I talked about in the last episode. Is there something that you know you should be doing and you're just not doing it? Um, it's like God can give us this calling, but we are the ones that have to do the work. And I found over and over again is when I'm doing the work, I do see sometimes it's even just the smallest little door open up, or the smallest little crack to walk through, or a window that opens that I gotta climb out. Um, and maybe it's nothing big, but it's enough to let me know that I am on the right track. I want to share a story with you of something that came to fruition actually this week, just a couple of days ago. So back in 2019, I released my second book, The Gratitude Challenge. And even that book, I didn't feel ready to write that book. I was standing on a stage, I was talking about giving and gratitude. I had only had one book out. I had no desire to write a second book. Um, but when I was on the stage, I really feel like God said, like, give them a resource, give them a tool, like go write a book on gratitude. And so I did that. It took me like two years. So my first book took five. Uh so just know sometimes whenever you're working on something in the beginning, that first thing is gonna take a long time. You're gonna have a lot of starts and stops, a lot of wrestling, a lot of tears. You know, it's just not going to be easy. And people quit. People quit in those five years. And I just really encourage you to not quit and to not give up in those five years or whatever the years are that you're working towards what God is calling you to do. So um in 2017, I ended up starting to work on this book, and I had already figured out a lot of the steps, I had already made a bunch of the mistakes. And so I was able to get this book out in two years. And so I just started talking about gratitude within, you know, when on this through the stage. Uh, it's just become a part of my platform. And fast forward to a couple of months ago. So if you're listening to this, it's September 2026. So go back a couple of months. And I had a friend reach out to me. Now, mind you, this friend was a connection I had made probably a decade ago. We honestly couldn't even remember how we met, but we had met probably over a decade ago. And she had taken a new role, and she had an idea uh for at this nonprofit, she's in development, to do like a donor appreciation breakfast. And she thought of my book, The Gratitude Challenge, because what better way? What of a gift, you know, to give people when you are thanking them and having a breakfast, you know, to give them something that talks about gratitude, teaches them about gratitude. So she'd reached out to me about that, which was wonderful. But I want you to think about that. I released this book in 2019 and God's used it in many ways. I've sold thousands of copies of this book. So it's not to say, like in the six years, that it's just been a drought and nothing has happened with the book. But in this instance, not only did they want to use my book, as they started talking about it, they was like, hey, maybe Stephanie can come sign the books and be here at the event. And then it turned into, hey, maybe Stephanie would just keynote this event and talk about giving in gratitude. And I tell you this story to say, if I would have not been obedient in 2017 when God called me to write this book, if I would have just like, okay, God, I really am not a gratitude expert. The only thing that I had been doing in gratitude was just being faithful and writing out every day five things I was grateful for. And I saw how it was changing my life. And so I started talking about it. So that was just like that small seed that God planted. Only God can plant those little tiny seeds where you're like, what? You want me to write on like something that. So the last episode I talked about the lies that the devil tells us is a lie. I could have said is I'm not an expert in gratitude. Who am I to be writing a book on gratitude? And it was like, again, though, it's like God telling me, like, I called you to do this. Now we have free will and we don't have to do it. But I got to see this full circle moment at this event where everybody got a copy of the gratitude challenge and also my prayer and gratitude journal, thank you notes to God. And after my talk, well, first of all, even during my talk, there is just something. I mean, I always pray before I get on stage, but this talk was just a little bit different. I just could see people were intently listening to the message that God gave to me to give to those people that day that it was touching people. I mean, people were crying, they were emotional, it was just really affecting them. But afterwards, there were two people, there was a lot of people that came up, but there were two ladies in particular, both older women. And when I say older, probably maybe late 70s, early 80s. The first lady came up and she was just talking about the message, and we were just having a conversation, and um, she wanted to share with me like how much it touched her, and she just got so choked up, even talking about it. And that's how God will use you when you take the steps, you keep moving forward when you're not ready. And then the second is there was a couple and they were donors, and the wife was just as soon as she came up to me, she was just crying, she could hardly speak and get out. And then the husband, you know, basically said, Thank you for reminding us that we are doing the right thing, that we are using our money in the right way. And, you know, the non-for-profit helps with hunger relief and helps people in emergencies and have a women's care center. And I really believe God used me in that moment to reach, you know, whether it was just those three people, I believe he reached more. I had a VP of a bank come up to me and talk about how he was going to start using gratitude with his team, and that was so cool. So you start to see this little ripple effect of like, if we are obedient, God will be able to use you to touch a bunch of people. But I also think if we are not obedient and what God is calling us to do, is like how many people do not maybe get to step out and do the thing that they're supposed to be doing? Like maybe that guy would have never thought about using gratitude with his team and using the resources that God gave me to provide to other people. The other thing I want to talk about, and I mentioned this in the last episode about starting before you're ready, is that the devil will, I mean, here I am. I had a lady come up to me before the event. She was volunteering or she worked for the organization, and she said, Do you ever get nervous or scared before you speak? And I paused and I said, Yes, like I've been speaking for over two decades. So I'm very comfortable. Like this is the gifting God gave me. I love to be on the stage. I love to speak. I feel very comfortable there. It was God, I want to speak. Like when I was praying years ago, I wanted to speak, and I really felt like God saying, No, I need you to go write a book. I'll give you more speaking engagements, but you got to go write a book. And again, starting before you are ready is like you may want to do this thing over here, and God's saying, No, I need you to do this. And maybe sometimes He will give that gifting back to you where you can use it, and other times, like maybe you're just gonna stay in this lane over here. But when she asked me that, I had to be honest with her is that even though I've been speaking for two decades, I know it is a gifting, I know it is a calling on my life. I love to do it. I've been able to see the thousands of people that God has used me to be in front of, to help them think about their life differently, to challenge them, to them to go on their own giving journey, to talk about rest and burnout and all the things that I've spoken about over the years. But I told her is I said, I do, as I am getting closer to a speaking engagement, I start getting a lot of fears in my head of is this the wrong message? Is this what the event planner had in mind when they invited me? What's the audience gonna think? Are they gonna receive this? Like I start having all these questions. And I'm sharing this with you because, you know, I talked about this time frame, this instant gratification. Even though it does get easier, I still have the same fears. And I can't tell you how many times I want to literally, as it gets closer to a speaking event, I want to back out. I want to find an excuse not to show up and give that message. And so, even in that, is if you're like Stephanie, I've been doing X for seven years, eight years, nine years, and I just still get those fears that creep up. I still get, it's still hard. Yeah, it is. And what I found, and what I told this lady, is if it wasn't hard and if we didn't have the fears, fears just is our sin, you know, our the way that after sin entered the world, like I think we're just always gonna have those fears. Is what it does though, is it makes me get back into scripture, it makes me rely on the only person that can help me get through those fears. And that is only God. Do not rely upon man or yourself to just strengthen through it. I'm just gonna push through it. I think that's when we start to get burned out. It's when we're really not doing what God called us to do. We're living in this worry, we're living in this fear, we're living in this doubt, which causes anxiousness, which then I think sometimes leads us to depression because we just feel so beat down, worried, weary. And I always have to go back to no, God gave me this opportunity. God made a connection with this lady over a decade ago. God called me to write this book, you know, all those years ago. And because I was faithful, because I kept taking those steps, and I want you to remember that you'll never know in the future how God's going to use it. I always say it makes me so sad to think about where has God called so many people and you gave up in those five years, and then God wasn't able to use what he was calling you to do, you know, seven years later. And so I just I wanted to give this message today because I think sometimes maybe you can see people on social media, maybe you've seen me, maybe you've read my books, maybe you've heard me speak from a stage, and it doesn't seem like I struggle. I will say, before I step on every stage, I am praying right before I go on stage. A lot of times I am having my prayer team, I am surrounded. Like my mom, I know she is always praying. She knows about every speaking engagement. I get a text from her that morning. I know I am covered in prayer, but also as I am working on my talk, I am praying. I am sitting. And a lot of times I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to talk about. And so you do have to be in prayer. You do have to be talking to God and relying upon God because I think that if we are not, then we are stepping on that stage. And I'm not saying that um I don't ever get scared when I step on stage, especially if it's a bigger stage, like that first kind of minute, sometimes my legs will be shaking. I am like, what am I doing? I will even sometimes fumble in the beginning and then I settle in. And so I just hope this today provides you a bit of encouragement. If you did start before you were ready, you've been taking the steps, and you're just like, Stephanie, I just feel tired. I still feel fearful, I still feel a bit weary. And I want to say that all the seeds that you have been planting over these past years is God will use those. God will be faithful to return a harvest to you at his time and in his timing. And what I found over and over again is his timing is perfect. There are certain times where I wanted to do something here, and even though I started it, I, in my mind, thought, okay, Lord, I have started it and this is going to be the results, and this is when you're going to use it, and it's not. And that's when we can get disappointed. That's where doubt can come in. But I have learned over and over again of by sticking with what God has called me to do, by being patient in sowing those seeds. Today is a great example of getting to see how something that I sowed and started, you know, seven years ago, God has used for his glory. God is going to use it in multiple ways that I can't even see because I got to see, you know, over a hundred of my books go out. And how are those people going to use and read and learn and talk about? And then a lot of times somebody will read my book and give it to somebody else. Like we just never know how God is going to use our start before we're ready. And then as we stick with it and work through those hard times, God will be faithful. I've seen it over and over again. So I hope this episode has encouraged you. If you are feeling weary, worn down, God will use you. Hey friends, thank you for joining me today on the Only God Podcast. I hope today's story encouraged your faith and reminded you that God is still writing our stories each and every day. If you were inspired by this episode, please share, subscribe, and tell a friend. And to stay connected with me and find out about all my books and resources and events, go to shiningforwardcreative.com. Have a fabulous day.