Gerald asked me to share a message I recently sent him regarding the role the Strategic Life Alignment (SLA) Seminar has played in helping me walk in my calling. I hope this will be an encouragement to you.
When my husband, Ryan, and I completed SLA in 2012, I was immersed in raising and homeschooling three of our children. Before marriage and children, I worked as a journalist. We decided for various reasons that I would stay at home with our children. Then, the Lord led us into homeschooling. I was not really sure what to make of my previous writing experience except that it would help me teach my children. I unwittingly held onto words my last editor said when I resigned: “You’re committing career suicide.”
Prior to SLA, I had a very narrow perspective on calling, career, and motherhood. Gerald did an excellent job of helping us understand biblical truths about who we are and what God has called us to do. The course included challenging exercises and practical tools, all of which helped me see my identity first and foremost as the Lord’s beloved daughter. As His daughter, He has specific work for me to do (Ephesians 2:10).
SLA helped open my eyes to the Lord’s purposeful design in my personality, my family, my likes and dislikes, my strengths and weaknesses, skill sets, experiences, and hobbies. I also identified blocks and “masks” that were keeping me from walking in my calling. I was uniquely affirmed as a wife and mother through SLA. But I also shed some of the unhealthy identity, pride, and idolatry I sheltered even in these most precious gifts.
Through our SLA experience, Ryan and I both began to appreciate and consider commissioning voices in our lives, especially our parents’, but also the voices of others who had noticed and cultivated particular God-given gifts, skills, or traits.
In turn, my response toward the Lord shifted toward gratitude. Once I saw more clearly His grace, favor, and purposeful design—even in not giving me things I wanted or thought I needed—I gained new insight and hope for how I could fit into advancing His narrative, His glory, and His work on this earth.
Out of this heart change, the Lord began to open new doors for Ryan and me to engage our callings.
Here is just one example: Not too long after completing SLA, during a long car ride, my husband brought up a prior connection I had with WORLD Magazine. He suggested I contact the editor and inquire about writing again. I immediately gave him a list of excuses as to why this was a bad idea: I had no time; I might neglect the kids; I didn’t own a computer; I was unsure whether this editor would even remember me; it had been 10 years since I wrote anything—could I even still write an article?
I’m not sure whether my husband would have even brought this up had he not also participated in SLA. Since then, our relationship had been shifting toward encouraging each other to discover and walk faithfully in our God-ordained callings.
So I did it. I sent an email to the editor. Providentially, he remembered me and had an immediate opportunity for me to begin writing again—from home and whenever my schedule allowed. He was fully supportive and encouraging of my primary roles as a wife, mother, and educator. It was almost as though there was a position catered to my exact needs—sitting there waiting for me.
Since 2013, I have been writing for WORLD. During this time, the Lord gave us a fourth child. I continued to homeschool—with help from grandparents, online learning, and a co-op—until our kids reached high school. Currently, I have one child in preschool, one who is homeschooled, and two at a local private high school. Some years, I have only written a small amount. I am learning to listen to people in my life—especially my husband, but also my kids, parents, close friends, and mentors—as to what I can handle in each season.
The Lord has opened opportunities for overlap. For example, in my (still present) quest to find good books for my kids, I started reviewing noteworthy children’s books for WORLD. Many stories I write stem from my personal experiences, relationships or conversations with people—my husband, kids, friends, and acquaintances within our church, homeschool co-op, community, etc. The stories are all around me; I just have to discover them. God has even used my geographical location in the San Francisco Bay area to tell specific stories.
SLA played a significant role in helping me engage my calling. I have shared just one example—I could speak at length to other ways it has impacted our marriage, parenting, family and church relationships, etc. The Lord continues to mold and shape Ryan and me (especially through trials). It is like an interwoven tapestry—the overlapping, the color, the fringes, the imperfections, the patterns all point to a loving Father who intimately cares for us, His children. He is the author of our story and fits it into His bigger story. May He also perfect our faith, granting us grace and courage to serve Him faithfully to the end.
