Therapy and Coaching with Sarah Siders

Just because you’re hidden doesn’t mean you’re not called.

This year my friend quit her job to stay home with her kids. It was a bold move, leaving the life of raw and tangible impact in social work to stay home and clean up poop and scrape dried carrots from the tops of high chairs.

It can be difficult to find meaning when one is living in obscurity.

But living in the world’s definition of “insignificant” can be easily be the exact place where God has cleared your schedule to give you what you’ve been looking for: purpose.

Is my friend now “just a stay-at-home mom”? Hardly. Although that’s how she happily chooses to spend most of her days and raising the next generation holds plenty of meaning, although it’s easy to miss when you’re doing it.

Leaving behind the workforce and all its predictability and accolades, however, cleared her schedule to listen, to be available. She’s on the brink of something big now, getting vision for restoration in her new city, thinking of starting a prayer ministry in the church plant she just joined.

Her purpose is taking shape, her calling is still calling her, even in a role the world views as invisible.

So your career isn’t taking off like you planned and you’re working some lame job just to make ends meet. Or maybe you decided to take a few years and stay home with your kids, hoping the world doesn’t forget you exist.

Well, you’re in a position to learn from your new teacher: Obscurity. Here’s what obscurity and the hidden life teach us:

1. Never mistake role for calling. You are not now, nor will you ever be, what you do. Your calling manifests in your roles and assignments, but you don’t have to have a position to have purpose.

2. We don’t have to hold a title to make an impact. There are people around us daily with no degrees and no business cards who shape the direction of our families, our cities and our nation. Think about it. Maybe you know one of them.

When we quit trying to matter according to the world’s definition, we can silence our souls to hear the calling of God on our lives. When you hear it, you will know. And then nothing will have power to stop you.

Living in obscurity right now or have you ever? What are you learning/did you learn? Share in the Comments below.

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