The Loneliness of Having a Corporate Calling
Loneliness Isn't a Sign to Quit - It's a Sign to Return
We often assume loneliness signals something’s wrong. Maybe we’ve taken a wrong turn, missed God’s voice, or fallen out of alignment with our calling.
But what if it’s the opposite? What if loneliness is one of the ways God forms us?
I’ve been meditating on a hard truth lately, one I’ve really wanted to avoid. A life committed to fulfilling your calling might, by nature, carry a quiet kind of loneliness.
This isn’t the loneliness of isolation. It’s the loneliness of conviction. Of choosing integrity when shortcuts are available. Of holding to values when the culture seems to pull you in a different direction.
I came across this insight from Larry Crabb recently:
“If during our moments of deepest loneliness, we abandon ourselves completely to God, depending on him to minister to us, we will meet God. Our deepest parts will be strengthened; our character will become rooted in his resources.”
That line met me right where I was. It made me realize something simple but profound: maybe my lonely seasons weren’t wasted. Maybe they were forming me.
Corporate life has taught us to measure progress by results. I’ve done it for decades.
Hitting targets. Watching metrics. Counting wins. Without meaning to, I started gripping results tighter than obedience. I forgot that outcomes were never mine to control.
I used to know this. I used to be all in on the process. Doing the work to become the person I was called to be. Somewhere along the way, I lost that posture.
But lately, I’ve felt God calling me back.
Now, I feel the call to return. To refocus. To release the outcomes again.
That’s not easy. Results still mean something. They give insight. But they don’t mean what I’ve allowed them to mean. They don’t get to define my faithfulness or my value.
I can see results. But they’re not the measure. The measure is the effort. The obedience. The commitment to becoming the encourager that I am meant to be.
The true measure isn’t the size of the achievement, but the depth of my “yes.”
It’s the quiet faith to keep walking when nothing moves.
It’s the courage to stay committed even when no one notices.
It’s choosing character over career advancement when they conflict.
That’s where my responsibility ends. Not in controlling outcomes, but in giving God my full yes.
So that’s what I’m doing. I’m making the decision to let go of the outcomes and be committed to the process. I’m encouraging you to do the same.
Release the results.
Choose to measure your calling by obedience, not by visible success.
Here’s the prayer I’m praying:
“Father, I repent for holding too tightly to results. For letting comparison and outcome define my worth. I turn again toward obedience. To doing all I know to do with a pure heart. Help me to stay faithful. Help me to keep saying yes. I trust You with what I can’t control.”
Maybe this is what strength really looks like. Not perfection, not constant progress, but daily surrender.
What part of this hits home for you today?
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