Where Deep Gladness Meets the World’s Hunger: A Story of Calling

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 Dear Readers,

When looking up the quote, “the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's hunger meet” (read post). The Google result showed:

-Deep glad represents your authentic self, passions, and what makes you truly feel alive.

-World’s deepest hunger represents the need of the world, including injustice, pain, and areas requiring healing.

-Vocation/calling- It is the sweet spot where personal fulfillment addresses a greater need.

My blog is now called Blaire in Houston, but I am not a native Houstonian (you would know that if you spent time with me...I don’t say ya’ll naturally, and I’m not a big fan of Tex Mex (blaspheme I know)). Anyway, when I moved to Houston and was looking for a job I told God there are three things that when I do them I feel like they are the only things I should be doing: research, writing, and being with kids. At that time I really only thought I would make a living with research, writing was a hobby, and time with kids was serving in the church nursery. And for a while, I had a part-time job as a reference librarian—and it was good. But during COVID, I felt my life couldn’t just be working from home and then sitting on my couch watching TV. What was I to do?

Let me go back (a dear friend would make a rewind sound here). Since becoming a believer, I have had a heart for children, and over time, I developed a heart for vulnerable populations. That passion led me to do a Living Water trip to Honduras and volunteer with homeless kids. Then I moved to Houston to be closer to my sister and her kids (and I guess her husband 😉). I really wanted to be a more involved aunt, so I moved here in 2018. I had to learn to drive and find a job, and things took a little longer than I imagined—but all is well.

In early 2020 (before the scariness—I mean, Australia was burning, but we weren’t scared yet), I joined a 10-week Bible study focused on sharing the gospel, something I was not good at and am still a work in progress. However, it really opened my eyes to the nations in Houston, and I wanted to get involved, but I wasn’t sure how. The world was scary, so I hid.

One of the leaders of the Bible study (who saw potential in me) pulled me aside to go for a walk in a park to talk about a 10-month group preparing for potential overseas missions. There were two problems (problem is not the right word): 1) I moved to Houston to be closer to my family—how could I just pack up and move away? 2) I didn’t have a country or people group on my heart. Well, she told me about Prestige Learning Institute (PLI) (link), and I started volunteering in their after-school program in the spring of 2021, joining the staff in July of 2021 as a communications coordinator.

Day in and day out, I handle social media (Links), newsletters, small in-house design, and, under the Development Director and Leadership Team, PLI messaging. But as a co-worker said, “most things written and anything beautiful is done by me.” To be honest, when I came into this job, I didn’t think I had any design skills, but I have learned. And in recent years, we have also made social media posts highlighting the countries our clients come from or aspects of their lives to educate people, which has used a lot of my research and writing (in a different way). Doing after-school volunteering keeps me investing in kids.

I feel like in my job I’m living out my gladness in the world’s hunger. Now, if you are on my newsletter list, you will also know there have been many hard moments. I will not paint over them, but overall, I feel like my job is to place me in God’s calling.

Now, though I'm not stepping away from my job, I kind of want to see how God can use my writing or this blog to meet the world's hunger. I’m not exactly sure what that looks like, but at the end of all this, I want to know I was of use to God’s kingdom and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful daughter.”

If I may leave you with this question: Where do your passions meet the world’s hunger?