Episode 146: 3 Ways to Draw Closer to God to Find Your Purpose Outside of Teaching

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Discovering your purpose outside of teaching can be an overwhelming process to go through. When we focus on what we want, it makes it even harder. Y’all, God has all the answers, which means we need to be turning to him to help us uncover our new purpose outside of teaching. In this episode, I’m gonna be sharing with y’all a sneak peek into one of the chapters of my brand new book, “Teacher Turned…“ This book is going to help you pursue your God-given purpose outside of the classroom. It’s available for preorder right now and will be officially launching in February, but you can get it ordered and find out more at teacherturnedfreelancer.com/book.

(02:01):
But in this episode, the sneak peek I’m going to be sharing with y’all is three ways that you can draw closer to God as you uncover your purpose outside of teaching. The first thing that you can do to draw closer to God is to practice gratitude. Let me ask you, when was the last time that you thanked God for what you already have? Gratitude is one of the fastest ways to start figuring out exactly where you want to go in life and how you can get there the fastest. The Miriam Webster dictionary defines gratitude as the state of being grateful. It’s synonyms are appreciation, appreciativeness, gratefulness, thankfulness. Gratitude is how we thank God for getting us where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going. He is always listening to you even when you’re not actively praying. You guys, there are no coincidences in life. God has carefully orchestrated every step that has placed you where you are today. He wants to provide for you and he wants to know that you recognize his guidance in your life. Practicing gratitude does not need to take a long time. Most days I only spend about three minutes showing gratitude to God by taking just a few moments to say thank you for all that I have. I’m showing God that I see what he’s doing in my life and that I’m excited and grateful for where he’s taking me next.

(03:37):
So three simple ways to start incorporating gratitude into your life. First one is to grab a gratitude journal. This was the first step that I took to incorporate more gratitude into my life, and there are some amazing gratitude journals out there that just simply include a spot to write the date, as well as three small statements of what you’re grateful for that day.

(03:59):
So if you’re curious which gratitude journal I use and love, you can head on over to teacherturnedfreelancer.com/book. Once you start this process, I want you to list out one thing you’re thankful for from both the past, the present, and the future chair. Another way you can incorporate gratitude into your life is to make a gratitude list. This is really easy. Stop what you’re doing right now. Go grab a pen and a sheet of paper. Now, I want you to take five minutes and list out everything you’re grateful for in your life. This can include simple things like your pets or your house, or it can get more complex to include things like specific lessons you’ve learned over the years, special people in your life and why you’re so grateful God has placed them in your life, etc. This exercise is also a really fun one to do at the end of each month and kind of recap what you’re grateful for that happened throughout the month.

(04:59):
You can also use statements of gratitude. So maybe you’re driving down the road and you narrowly avoided hitting a squirrel. You should take a moment to show God your gratitude, that you didn’t hit that squirrel and that it’s still living long, healthy life, hopefully. Maybe you’ve had a hard conversation that you were worried wouldn’t go well, but that ended up going, you know, decently well. Tell God thank you for giving you the words and the clarity that you needed to handle that conversation well. When it comes to gratitude, it doesn’t need to take a ton of time, but it can make a huge impact. I really think you’d be surprised by how far you can go just by taking the time to slow down and start incorporating gratitude into your life for five to 10 minutes a day.

(05:48):
The second way that you can draw closer to God is to start a prayer journal. A lot of times we come to God and we ask him for something that we want, but then by the time that the prayer is answered, we’ve forgotten that we ask for it at all. Then when this happens, we tend to give ourselves the credit for achieving that goal instead of giving God the glory that he deserves. So by starting a prayer journal, it’s a great way to remember your prayers. This way you can flip through your previous entries every few months and make note of which prayers God has already answered. So a few easy ways to start using a prayer journal is one, write freely. You don’t need to write perfectly or for long periods to get your message across. God knows exactly what you want to say. You just need to ask. So you can even try setting a timer for five to 10 minutes and just write down whatever comes to your mind that you would like to ask him about or that you want to process. You can also, in your prayer journal, write a year from now letter. This is one of my favorite exercises. This is one that I do at the end of every year. So you can write a letter to yourself a year from now about where you want to be. The important thing to note here is to get specific. So some questions to help inspire you are what does your home look or feel like a year from now? How are your finances? Have you paid off any debt? If so, how much? Who are you helping or serving in your career instead of teaching? How is your relationship with your spouse? What does your motherhood look like? What are your kids learning? What are you doing to improve your health? What does your ideal day look like? Once you’ve written your letter, you can refer back to it at least once a week, if not daily, to make sure that you’re working towards those goals. That way a year from now, your life looks exactly like you want it to look because you’ve got it front and center in your mind the whole entire time.

(07:55):
Another great way to use your prayer journal is to make lists. So lists are a great way to get all of your thoughts and prayers out of your head without writing a ton of sentences. If you’re like me and you don’t really like the physical act of writing, this is a great option because it allows you to write out your prayers a lot faster. Some list ideas are to write a list of your favorite Bible versus write out the prayers God has answered in your life. Write a who I am list in God’s eyes. Write out a list of lessons you’ve learned. Write a list of questions you wanna ask God. These are all great ideas. So prayer journals can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them. The important thing is that you use it consistently so you can visually see how God is working in your life. I’ve linked the prayer journal I love in the bonus resources that I’ve gathered for my new book, which you can access at teacherturnedfreelancer.com/book.

(08:58):
The third way that you can draw closer to God as you go through your journey out of teaching and discover your new purpose is to ask questions. Now, this might seem a little counterintuitive because we know God can read our minds. However, he wants us to actively seek him out and ask for what we want. We need to ask him where he wants us to go. We should question which direction he wants us to choose, and we need to include him when we’re trying to make a decision. One of my favorite ways to seek God’s help is to ask him to show me a specific sign if I’m supposed to go one direction or another. So when I started feeling the call to guide teachers out of the classroom, I asked God to show me a fox if he wanted me to pursue this nudge that I was feeling. I had never really seen a fox in real life outside of like a zoo. So I knew if I saw it, it would really be a very clear sign from God. Then a couple weeks later while I was driving home, a fox ran across the road in front of me. Thankfully, I didn’t hit it cuz I’m not sure what that would’ve meant, but I knew he was giving me the clear answer to pivot my business in that direction. Another example is when I first felt called to write my book, I had to make a big choice about which publishing route I was supposed to go with, and I hadn’t even written the book yet, but I was still battling with this decision.

(10:28):
So I asked God anyway. I asked him to show me a caterpillar if he wanted me to go one publishing route or a ladybug if he wanted me to go the other. Now, I don’t recall ever seeing a caterpillar or a ladybug where we live, so I thought this would be another good sign to ask for because it was kind of, it would be out of the ordinary. I also knew that I had plenty of time to wait for an answer if God wanted me to wait and chill for a bit, because I still hadn’t even written the book. So I went ahead and asked the question, started writing, and just a few days later he answered, I was outside. If you guys know, we live in a camper full-time, and I was outside walking into the house and there right next to the door handle was a big hairy caterpillar.

(11:17):
Y’all, I immediately felt chills go down my arms and I knew which way God was calling me to go. So here’s some tips. If you’re asking God for a sign in your life, number one, have patience, you might not receive an answer right away. Sometimes God is calling us to wait patiently so that we can build our trust in him. That’s another reason it’s helpful to write down your questions and the signs you ask for so that you can remember them even if you have to wait a while. Another tip for asking God for signs in your life is to watch out for the unexpected. God might not show you the sign you asked for in the way that you expect. It could show up in the changing background of your login screen on your computer. You might come across an old stuffed animal. Your child might bring home a picture. They drew that animal. You might see that sign in a dream. You have to keep your eyes open to any possibility or you might miss God’s signals. I think it’s also important to remember that sometimes God wants us to wait. Maybe he’s preparing us to be able to handle whatever it is we’re asking for, or maybe he even has something better in store. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get an answer to your prayer right away. God always has three replies to our prayers. Yes, yes, but not right now, or, I have a better plan for you. Y’all, prayer is the foundation that allows us to draw even closer to God and allow him to steer us in our lives. Whatever purpose you’re trying to uncover in your life, whatever answer you’re seeking, prayer is foundation. You need to build those decisions upon. We can’t hope to uncover our purpose without including the one who created us, and if we try, we’re likely to lose our way and have to start over again.

(13:14):
When it comes to any big decisions in your life, you have to include God. My hope with this episode and with this book that’s coming out is that you’ll begin implementing some or all if you want extra brownie points of the prayer methods that I’ve mentioned in this episode. If you do so, you’re gonna be amazed as you see him start to work in your life, right? So if you loved this episode, I encourage you to go and pre-order the “Teacher Turned…” book, helping you uncover your God-given purpose outside of teaching. It’s going to give you even more amazing content just like this episode. I’m so excited to bring this to life for y’all. This was not on the plan for this year, but God had different plans and when he calls, you gotta answer. So it’s coming in February. You can pre-order it now. Go to teacherturnedfreelancer.com/book. All right, y’all, I love you so incredibly much. This is the last episode of this year. We will see you back next week in 2023.