Be Confident in Your Calling
I recently released a book on the idea of finding your Creative Potential and Unleashing Your Creative Calling. One of the concepts I share in the book is the idea of being confident in your calling. So here are some of the concepts that I share in the book about your calling and being confident:
1. Stop Copying others.
Once you’ve found your creative calling and you begin to feel the weight of doing something with that newfound burden, pressure will begin to rise. When that pressure rises, it will be natural to lean toward copying others as you pursue your own calling.
I want to encourage you to prevent this at all cost. Stop copying and start creating unique things as a response. Let me use the example of someone learning how to draw to illustrate this. At first, a new artist will grab a pencil and tracing paper. However, over time there will need to be a moment where you no longer use tracing paper, and instead begin to draw on your own.
No great artist has ever changed the world because they can trace other works really well. And in the same light, no cover band has changed the world either. When we copy others, we’re robbing our own creative potential and instead trying to find someone else’s potential. This will kill our momentum, and never allow us to step into the fullness that God intended.
2. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others.
Now that we don’t copy those around us, the next natural tendency will be to beat ourselves up because we’re not “good enough” as everyone else. That’s because the metric you are using for yourself is out of balance with reality. You’re trying to compare your beginnings to someone else’s matured giftedness. That will result in shame, sorry, fear and ultimately drive you to quit early.
Instead of comparing yourself to the “experts” in your field when you just get started in your calling, instead I want to recommend that you encourage and edify those who are better than you. In doing so, you’ll be celebrating those around you and opening up a door to relationships with people a bit further down the road as you. These relationships will turn into mentorships and hopefully help you once more increase your creative potential.
3. Avoid Franchising Creativity.
At some point in your journey, you’ll find that something begins to resonate with the people you’re creating for. That may be a specific product that starts to sell, or a design that really sticks with a client. In doing so, you will have found some confidence that others have validated your calling. However, do not give into the temptation to franchise what’s working and churn it out like the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.
Even though it may seem natural to repeat what is working, when it comes to creativity, we must constantly work our creative muscles and help find new avenues to creative success. Challenge status quo again. Let fear become a catalyst instead of something that paralyzes you. And begin to create again.
4. Believe The Cross is Behind You.
Lastly, the best way to increase your confidence in your creativity is to remember the cross. The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians chapter 5: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” And in writing this, he is reminding us that Jesus came so that you’d have the freedom to step into the purpose He created for us, not run away from it.
If you’re God-Given calling is to be creative, then you better believe that Jesus died so you would have the freedom of stepping into that creativity, so you would one day turn it into the vehicle that helps Jesus be seen more clearly in your community. Instead, we bind ourselves up wondering if this or that is the one thing God has called us to do with our lives. First, if you think God is starting to whisper something to you about your calling in life, confirm it. He’ll never contradict himself. SO ask others to pray with you, see if it gets confirmed in the scriptures, and speak with a pastor.
Second, once you know that what is from God is actually from God, then run with everything you have into that purpose. Don’t look back. Don’t doubt your giftedness. When this happens, you can know for sure that the cross has the final word when it comes to your creative potential.
To learn more about the book, feel free to click this link and get a free preview.
