Pursuing Your Unique Call

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.  –Proverbs 16:1-3, 9

Boston Trinity alumnae Mrs. Emilie Hodge Osman spoke to Chapel attendees Wednesday afternoon about pursuing one's unique call. Mrs. Osman is the recipient of the 2020 Alumni Recognition Award for her work with a church planting mission in Yalova, Turkey, where she has been ministering cross-culturally to Muslims since 2018.

Mrs. Osman began by stating she was just an ordinary person on a not so ordinary journey. The one thing she did, she explained, that took her from "ordinary" to "not so ordinary" was to commit her life to God. She told Him she would do whatever He wanted her to do.

"Life is not about having perfect plans, but allowing God to lead you," she said. She gave her audience three ways to start following where God leads.

The first step in following God's leading is to trust. "If you are going to commit your way to God, you have to trust Him to get you there," she said. She told of her journey to the University of Virginia. None of the other colleges to which she had applied "felt right," so she had pinned her hopes on UVA. When she went for her college visit, however, she hated it. Even so, she felt that it was the right school; she had a deep sense of peace that "had to be from God. If you feel deep peace about something, pay attention," she admonished. "And the reverse is also true. If you don't have peace about something, pay attention."

Rather than attend college immediately after graduation, Emilie took a gap year and traveled to Turkey, where she fell in love with the country. Once back in the United States, college prepared her for work in Turkey before she ever knew she would be going back there. She majored in Global Development and the program felt similar to BTA's Trinity Institute for Leadership and Social Justice. She also became involved with a number of Syrian families. She emphasized that if she had not trusted God [about attending UVA] she would not have gained the preparation she needed.

Secondly, she said, you must seek. "You have to actively look, listen, and wait," she said. "God uses all kinds of ways to guide you. You must keep your eyes and ears open."  At UVA, Mrs. Osman decided to study Arabic. "God revealed a passion for languages," she said. "I had a love for Turkey, and now a love for Arabic. How could those two things go together?"  The answer came in an off-hand remark made by a Turkish student. He suggested Emilie continue her Arabic language studies and return to Turkey to minister to the Syrian refugees there. "Seek the things that make you feel passion," she advised. "You can't steer a car unless it's moving. When you recognize something as a voice from God, act on it!"

Surrender is the third step. Emilie had her own idea of what her future should look like. "We can make our own plans but God weighs motives," she said. She had envisioned her life as a single missionary, certain of what she would do and accomplish. Marriage was not a consideration. However, when she returned to Turkey to work visit a church of Syrian refugees, she met and fell in love with the man who would become her husband and partner in ministry. "I had to surrender my own ideas and let go of my vision of what my life was to look like," she said. "If I had trusted my own ideas instead of trusting God and listening to His still, small voice, I wouldn't be where I am now." 

"It is up to us to position ourselves to God's perfect plan," she concluded. "You do this by trusting, seeking, and surrendering your own plans to do His better plan."