This post originally appeared on : http://youthmin.org/called-even-in-transition/

I resigned from my church a little over a year ago, on a conviction to move back to St. Louis and take care of some family matters.  It was tough.  I assumed that because God was calling me to do this, He would open up a church position for me in no time.  But after 100s of resumes and 3 months unemployed, I accepted a different position at a ministry group home to teenagers.  And a year later, I’m still there and still looking for a church job.

At first, I questioned God often: “Why, if you’ve called me to youth ministry, am I not in a church?”  I didn’t understand.

A year later, I’m finally getting it:

Calling isn’t a career, but a lifestyle.

Take life by the horns.

Quit being so miserable.  Spending my days obsessing over how I wasn’t in a church and nobody liked me and blahblahblah was a waste of time.  And you, if you are “in transition” like myself, should not waste your time being miserable because you aren’t “fulfilling your calling.”

Find contentment.  That is not, “Well, this is the best it’s going to get, so I’m just going to deal…”  Truly find a way to enjoy life and love it.

Another thing: are you making your family and friends miserable with your misery?  Take it from somebody that got told to “shut up” … just be content and learn to love life where you are.

Quit putting your calling in a box.

I thought that because I was called to youth ministry, that meant that I was only fulfilling that calling by working in a church.  I think my friends and family would laugh at me saying that I’m not fulfilling my calling right now: I work with teenagers 250 hours a month at my job.  I volunteer in a local church.  I work for a youth ministry website.  I honestly think that I just really enjoyed feeling sorry for myself, and I needed to find contentment.

We are all called to minister…and sometimes God calls us to do specific ministries to specific peoples.  You may not be in a church, but there are plenty of other ways to minister to teenagers.  There are group homes, youth organizations, or churches in need of the best volunteers they could ever ask for.

Put your calling in current context.

So maybe you aren’t able to work with churched teenagers… there are still others out there who need the Gospel; in fact, they need to hear it more.  Use this time to use your calling to reach those who are unusually unreached.

You are called to minister to people, not to a building.

PS… if you are reading this and want to hire me, I’m game.