Episode 1: Isaiah 54:13

Maybe I should be surprised, shocked or confused about this new calling. Secretly, I’ve hoped for it. I thought for a couple decades that I don’t deserve it. But the Lord gives us all sorts of things we don’t deserve. There is a story——always there’s a story——about how and why we end up where we are. So join me in this first episode to hear more about the story. God has been writing in my heart and in my life. He is amazing. No doubt.

 

Welcome to my podcast where I’ll be sharing from my heart stories and thoughts that I hope will teach and encourage others in their walk with God.

 

I know that sharing what the Lord is doing in our lives—or has done—in our lives serves as a powerful testimony to God’s love and power. So let’s get started with today’s episode titled The Call.

 

This is the very first episode and as I was thinking about how I should do these podcasts, I really felt like the Lord was telling me that I want you to start them with a prayer.

 

So I’m going to pray at the very beginning of every single podcast. Let’s get started.

Lord, we give this time to you right now. I asked father that these are your words, that my heart is humble and pure before you. Lord, help me to keep the details of my story correct. Help me to keep them in a way that would glorify you and your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for this time together. And we hope that you move powerfully. We pray that you you move powerfully in somebody’s life today. Amen. 

 

All right. So there is a calling on my life. I have always wanted one—for a long, long time.

 

But there’s been decades, several bad choices or maybe life that has gotten in the way of what I know the Lord has created me to do.

 

And he’s given me sneak peeks into it here and there. And now it’s time to declare it and walk forward in it. So let me tell you about where this all started.

 

I was in junior high. Getting ready to go into eighth or ninth grade when an opportunity came up to go to a church camp one summer.

 

And this church camp was crazy. I couldn’t find it or tell you what town it was in.
The dorms and and the church—all of it —was like a set of an old Western movie. 

 

It was really kind of remarkable. This dusty road right in the middle and dorms on each side with maybe a camp store and all these other things. But the front of all of that looked like an old western town from an old Western movie. Anyway, it was interesting. That’s not really part of the story, but I remember it vividly. 

 

We had just finished a worship service one night at this church camp. And I had gone back to my dorm. I was up at the top bunk and I said—Lord, I want to know what you want from me. I will do anything. (At the age of 13 or 14, I was so eager to hear from the Lord about what my calling was to be.) I was ready to do anything the Lord asked me to do. 

 

I play this game with the Lord a lot, actually. I think to myself, I am going to open my bible, and wherever I am—whatever it says, I will do that! So, I did it, and I opened up the Bible to Isaiah. And I immediately my eyes are drawn to a verse.

 

The verse says something about about how I will teach the good news—or I will teach to the world. Something along those lines….

The words that really stuck out to me were: I will teach.

 

And I was like, oh, yes!

I mean, it resonated with me, honestly. 

So after church camp, I I get home and I was at my dad’s house and I wanted to call my grandma Kyler. I picked up the phone and called her.

 

I was so excited about this. I had to share it with her. And I said, you know, I read this verse and I’m I think the Lord wants me to be a teacher.

 

Maybe even I think he wants me to be a teacher out in the world.
And guess what, grandma? I’m taking Spanish class next year in high school. Isn’t that awesome? It’s perfect, right? This is what I’m gonna do.

And my grandma was very encouraging. I wish I could remember the specific words she said. But like grandmas usually can do, she completely matched my excitement and I’m sure she encouraged me.

And knowing my grandma after we hung up, I bet she prayed for me. I can almost guarantee it. 

 

So I was really excited about this calling. 

And then high school and my teenage years got in the way and I was distracted as a lot of teenagers can be, I’m sure. 

 

And I made decisions that probably kept me from hearing the Lord’s voice as clearly as I had when I was 13 or 14. And I went through several years of, I guess, what we would call rebellion. 

 

And although I think I never really completely let it go—(I actually went to college after I graduated and went to pursue a teaching degree)—I always knew that I should be a teacher. And so I went to school and I was going to get a teaching degree.
And then we had our first child—and we moved out of state—and more life happened—and more decisions…

And I never was even a school teacher. We ended up homeschooling our kids. So I was a teacher in that aspect. But I had kind of let go of that excitement I had had at 13 or 14 when I really felt like I was going to teach for the Lord out into the world.

I remember one time, my husband and I had some friends over—new friends over like in our mid twenties from church—and, you know, in conversation, somebody asked me: what is your favorite book of the Bible?

 

And I had not really spent a whole lot of time in the Bible at that point in my life. And I picked Isaiah. And I mean, it’s so silly now because when I read that now, it’s so much to think through and digest.

And I don’t know that at this point in my life I would call it my favorite book of the Bible. But I had remembered what the Lord had done back then. And so I picked it. And that’s funny to me now.

 

So, slowly but surely, the Lord has taught me more about who he is and more about who he has created me to be. And he’s really over the last, I’d say, six or seven years, he’s been building up my confidence in both of those things, who he is and who he’s created me to be. And I think it’s for such a time as this.

 

I’m excited to get started.

 

I think that I’m not really here to teach or to speak on or encourage you with anything that you couldn’t find in the Bible.

 

All of these things that I say, all of these things I talk about, all comes from the word of God, which is more powerful than anything I could say on my own.

 

And so I really want to rest and rely on his words. There might be times where I share by thoughts or my opinions, but I don’t ever want that to be the focus of what I talk about in my podcast or if I ever get invited to speak. I’m not really in the business of talking about what I think you should do in your life or what I think you should do with God’s word.

 

I think it’ll speak to you. I want to encourage you to dig in and to ask questions.

 

And maybe there’s a part of my story that will inspire you to do that, to dig in and find out what the word of God says for you and in your life.

 

So back to this verse in the Bible. So, a few weeks ago was when my website was launched and my husband and I have been working really hard on that. My husband is the emphasis there. He’s been working very hard on it. And we’ve talked about it so much. Really, the last couple months.

 

But this last week, we really have been digging in and working hard. And we started our Bible study group back this week. We take a break over the summer. And the person that was leading our Bible study, believe it or not, wanted to us all to turn to Isaiah.

 

And I immediately went back to that story of when I was 13 or 14 years old and thought, Lord, this would be cool, really, if you could help me find that verse.

So, I said quietly  to myself—Lord, is there any way you could point me to this verse—this is a big week!

I’m going to step out in faith.
I’m going to declare that I know that you’ve created me for this and I’m going to see where you take it.

 

But the Lord is so kind and he is so sweet. And as we were reading, I read my eyes kind of scanned the pages. And Isaiah, 54:13, says—I will teach all your children and they will enjoy great peace. And that was it.

It just about undid me.

I don’t know for sure if that was the verse he gave me at 13 or 14 years old. I don’t really know.

But never in all of the years that I’ve looked back to Isaiah have I found a verse that says I will teach. And so I was thankful. 

 

And the reason I think it’s so fitting, whether it’s the same verse or not, is because the Lord will teach all of our children and they will enjoy great peace. I hope to be a vessel. I pray that it’s the Lord that does all of the teaching and the speaking and encouraging in your life.

 

I hope that this story has encouraged you to follow the Lord and his calling in your life and to trust His perfect timing.