Discovering Vocation | Will Davis Jr. | Dear Daughters 44
What am I supposed to do with my life?
That’s what we’ll be looking into over the next few weeks on the podcast. The questions surrounding vocation, identify and then what to do with those two things in developing a strategy to accomplish God’s plans for our lives.
Today, I’m so excited to have my husband Will Davis Jr. join me for another episode of the podcast. Besides being a church founder and pastor, I wanted to interview him because he is someone who has known what he’s meant to do with his life since he was eighteen years old. He has laser beam focus and has a lot to say about the Bible and vocation.
He’s the father to our three young adult children plus father-in-law to three more! Here’s our family picture from Christmas this year. Oh joy!
So glad to have you join us as we explore vocation and how to love your one beautiful life. Here’s the interview on Dear Daughters Episode 44.
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SHOW NOTES
- The church we planted 24 years ago, Austin Christian Fellowship.
- Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? Here’s one way you can find out… Spiritual Gifts Inventory.
- Psalm 37.4 ~ and Will’s translation: If you’re walking with God, trust your gut.
- Some Biblical figures who were successful but looked like colossal failures at times? Joseph,David, Jesus, and so many others.
- Will’s solution to wanting the positive rush of reaching your potential, rather than the steady plodding of being obedient ~ renew your mind.
- Our huge, golden gate bridge-esque safety net of g-r-a-c-e.
- God’s playful path of vocation for me has included working as a theatre arts director at Regents School of Austin > writing books > traveling with Vicki Courtney & her ministry > hosting a radio show > encouraging Dear Daughters.
- In the language of Numbers 9 ~ in different seasons your cloud moves, you get new assignments, and new challenges to grow + depend on God.
- 1 Samuel 30.6 ~ David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
- If you haven’t already found it, listen to Dear Daughters Episode 42 with Will.
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THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
We’ve got to separate what we do from who we are. What you do does not define you. Who you are defines you. The first thing you are, is made in the image of God. ~ Will Davis Jr.
If you’re a Christian, you have this calling to be a priest before God – to love him and serve him, to worship him, to spend time with him, to minister in his name. Whether you are a stay at home mom, an attorney, a bus driver, a trash collector, a custodian, a doctor, a missionary, you are to minister in His name. ~ Will Davis Jr.
There’s a lot of wiggle room in the Bible on vocation but some people have a very specific calling and assignment to do certain things for God in their work world, and it’s almost always aligned with desire. ~ Will Davis Jr.
Don’t despise the day of small beginnings, and don’t despise what God is doing in your life currently, although it might not be your ultimate thing. ~ Will Davis Jr.
Be content in your season, and keep asking yourself, “As best I can tell, am I being obedient to what God has assigned me to do right now?” If you are being obedient to that, that’s success. ~ Will Davis Jr.
The world’s success indicators look way different from Kingdom indicators of success. Someone might look unsuccessful, but be very obedient. Our definition can’t be based on what we think fruit looks like or what we think success looks like. ~ Will Davis Jr.
There’s a difference between fulfilling your calling and fulfilling your potential. Jesus did not live up to his potential, He lived up to His calling.~ Will Davis Jr.
We’re not responsible for fruit, we’re only responsible for obedience. ~ Will Davis Jr.
If you feel like you’re maxing out your potential, you feel really good about that, but if you’re being obedient, it doesn’t always bring that same rush of positive emotion. ~ Susie Davis
In Christianity, there is this huge net called grace. ~ Will Davis Jr.
In following Jesus, the end is never the goal. In the Kingdom, the means are always as important as the end. ~ Will Davis Jr.
Don’t circumvent the curriculum God has set for your life. ~ Will Davis Jr.
What are your spiritual gifts? That’s part of how you engage in everyday ministry.
Your skills + talents + spiritual gifts + desire + passion = your vocational arena.
What do you WANT to do? What are you passionate about? What do you lose sleep over and get emotional talking about? That’s probably from God. ~ Will Davis Jr.
Our spiritual gifts are for the benefit of the Church (and the church). ~ Susie Davis
God can do anything He wants with me, and present me with any gift He needs me to have for the benefit of the Church. ~ Susie Davis
Knowing how you process conflict is an important part of being self-aware. That’s going to affect your ability to relate to people and to forgive people, and if you get hung up on those things you won’t be healthy enough for God to use you the way He intends to. ~ Will Davis Jr.
Find an someone who can help walk you through where you are with God. Find someone you can talk to about your skills, your spiritual gifts, your talents, your passion, your desire, your big God dreams – these are things you can discuss in trying to understand what you’re supposed to do with your life, because they all come in the basket of vocation. And you can’t just sit down and figure those out in a day. But when you’re able to look at who God made you, what your personality is like, what your spiritual gifts are, what your passion is, and where you are emotionally and relationally, all those things in this basket of vocation, are the way you find out what you’re supposed to be doing with your one beautiful life. ~ Susie Davis
Will’s last word: Self-leadership. The most important form of leadership we have to learn is to lead ourselves. And that means having the discipline to address bad habits, to know when you’re emotionally unhealthy and when it’s time to pull back and unplug and replenish.
‘David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.’ That’s self leadership. It’s knowing how to renew your mind, knowing you need to renew your mind, replacing falsehood with truth, and it’s addressing emotions and recognizing things that are going, and having the courage to deal with yourself because no one is responsible for yourself but you.