What Goal Calling?
Mar 09, 2026Summary
Have you ever had a thought or a goal that is so persistent it just won't leave you alone? Maybe it’s a whisper to start a business, write a letter, or change your career, but you keep pushing it aside because you aren't sure if it's just your imagination. In this episode of the Arise, Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson joins advisory board members Kari Anjewierden, Tiffany Fletcher, and Amanda Powell to answer the question: What goal is calling to you?
We move from "maybe someday" to "Thy will be done today" by breaking down the anatomy of a divine calling. Tiffany shares her raw story of God calling her back to graduate school at age 49 to study the one field she swore she'd never enter. Amanda explains how she finally launched a reading curriculum after fighting the fear of her own dyslexia. We also discuss the "Cottage vs. Mansion" principle and why God often calls us to things we feel completely unqualified to do. If you have been struggling with spiritual indecision, this episode will give you a 4-step "Discernment Checklist" to help you test that whisper against the Spirit. Tune in to stop pushing your dreams aside and start stepping into your assignment!
Episode Takeaways
- The Persistent Whisper: God rarely uses a burning bush. He usually speaks through a persistent, recurring thought or idea that interrupts you when you are on autopilot (especially in the quiet hours of the morning).
- Cottage vs. Mansion: Kari reminds us that our vision for our life is often a "cottage," while God’s blueprint for us is a "mansion." A divine calling will stretch you far beyond your own limited blueprints.
- The Humility Pivot: Tiffany swore she would never enter the mental health field. God called her to it anyway. A hallmark of a divine calling is that it requires you to do something you didn't want to do, forcing you to rely entirely on His strength.
- The Discernment Checklist: How do you know a goal is from God? 1) Does the thought of finishing it bring peace (even if the process is scary)? 2) Does it serve others? 3) Does it require growth/stretching? 4) Is it a persistent thought?
Resources
Are you ready to stop ignoring the whisper? Download our FREE Guide to Goal Setting. It features the "Sacred Brainstorm" worksheet to help you filter out the noise until only your God-given assignment remains. 👉 Download the Guide Here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/offers/WyaLn2gS/checkout
Need accountability? Check out our Women Warriors Accountability Group for free for two weeks! https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/join-now
Reflection Questions
- What is the "persistent whisper" or recurring thought that keeps coming to your mind when you are quiet?
- Are you resisting a calling because you feel unqualified (like Amanda's fear of spelling errors) or because you just don't want to do it (like Tiffany)?
- Run your current goal through the 4-step Discernment Checklist. Does it pass the test of being a "God calling" rather than just a "good idea"?
- Are you trying to build a cottage when God is asking you to build a mansion? How can you surrender your blueprints to Him today?
The Discernment Checklist: Is This Goal From God?
When a new idea or mission enters your heart, use these four anchoring questions to discern if it is a divine prompting or simply a "good idea."
-
Does it bring peace? Even if the goal feels massive or the path ahead is scary, does the thought of finishing it bring a sense of profound peace to your soul?
-
Does it serve others? A divine calling rarely stops with you. Does this goal have a "ripple effect" that will bless, lift, or serve someone else?
-
Does it require growth? If you can accomplish the goal perfectly using only your current skills and strength, it may just be a good idea. A "God Goal" usually requires a leap of faith and a significant spiritual stretch.
-
Is it a persistent thought? Does the idea keep coming back to you again and again, even when you try to ignore it or push it aside? If it won't leave you alone, it’s likely a call from Him.
Key Takeaway: If a goal is still calling to you after today, stop pushing it aside. It’s time to step into your mission.
Transcripts
Tamara K. Anderson
00:00:00.320 - 00:02:49.880
Have you ever had a thought or a goal that is so persistent it just won't leave you alone?
Maybe it's the whisper to start a business, write a letter, change your career, but you keep pushing the thought aside because you aren't sure if it's just your imagination. Today we're answering the question, what goal is calling to you?
And by the end of today's episode, you will understand the difference between a good idea and a God calling. And we're going to help you solve the pain of spiritual indecision by showing you how to test that calling against the spirit.
We're moving from maybe someday to thy will be done today. Stay tuned. Ordinary Women Extraordinary Faith When God calls, we say yes.
The Arise Women of God Podcast hello, and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God Podcast.
I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and joining me today are Carrie Ann Jaweerden, Tiffany Fletcher, and Amanda Powell of our Women warriors of Light Advisory Board. And today we're diving deep into the anatomy of a calling something you're feeling deep within your bones.
First, we're going to talk about the persistent whisper and how God uses recurring thoughts to get our attention. Second, we'll share real stories from our friends here today about the moment they felt called to do something way bigger than themselves.
Third, we'll discuss the humility pivot and why God often calls us to things that we honestly feel so unqualified to do. And finally, we'll share the discernment checklist to help you verify that the goal you feel called to do is actually from the light.
Well, let's kick it off with that persistent whisper. A goal calling is often what interrupts your thoughts when you're on autopilot.
For me, they often come in those early hours of the morning or when I have a moment of stillness. It's the dream that keeps resurfacing in your prayers or that person that keeps coming to your mind.
Sometimes I think most of us are waiting for a burning bush like Moses. But God usually sees speaks with a still, small voice of a recurring goal or idea.
The goal is calling because it's aligned with you and your divine mission. One of our first tips is just to write down the ideas that you're getting.
And once you do that, take those ideas to God and ask him to help you see this dream or idea more clearly. Carrie is now going to share the idea of how sometimes we may be wanting to build a cottage, but God sees a mansion in our future.
Kari Anjewierden
00:02:50.840 - 00:03:51.500
But my vision is a cottage, and God's vision is a mansion, and those are two very different blueprints. If you're setting goals, if you're trying to do something, they're going to look vastly different.
So if my goals are taking me towards a cottage, I'm not helping God achieve his mansion. So making sure he's the overseer, the CEO in things, is very helpful.
But making sure that I have the right blueprints, that I have the right pattern for me individually, what he wants for me, not what he wants for Tamara or for Tiffany, but what he wants for me.
And then following a map, having some structure to it, not just writing it down and saying, this is what I want to do, but having a structure, having it detailed, making sure that you will be successful in the long run in our goal setting as well, just to make sure that we are taking out anything that is going to impede our progress.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:03:52.300 - 00:04:14.370
When you realize you are building a mansion, the goal stops being about your to do list and starts being about your stewardship. We've seen this happen time and time again in our Women warriors of Light group.
Tiffany is now going to share a goal calling she received from God that was the last thing she ever thought she would do.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:04:14.450 - 00:05:22.510
I told Heavenly Father that I still had a lot of life left in me, and I asked him how he wanted to use me, started praying to Heavenly Father, ask him what that looked like beyond homeschooling and raising kids. And for me, he said, I want you to go back to school. And I was like, what are you talking about? You want me to go back to graduate school?
And he's like, yep. So here I am. I am in a master's program for clinical mental health counseling. My mom had mental illness.
I swore that I was never going to go into mental illness. And God's like, nope, your experience is exactly what is needed in the mental health counseling field. So I need you to take this leap with me.
Like, when God asks you to do things, it's scary, but I love how Danny said God empowers us to do whatever it is he needs us to do, and he does work for us to do.
And if we are willing to accept it and not kick against the pricks, which I'm really good about, like, kicking against those pricks, like, I don't want to do it. Heavenly Father, please. I. I kind of just wanted to enjoy my grandchildren at 50. And heavenly Father's like, oh, you can do both.
So when we are willing to put God first, he will definitely use us.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:05:22.830 - 00:05:45.130
She didn't Want to do it, ladies? This is the hallmark of a divine goal. Calling. It stretches you so that you have to rely on him. Amanda Powell experienced the same thing.
Her curriculum. She had a gift. She had a goal. But she had to wait for the strategic prompting to finally act.
Amanda Powell
00:05:45.770 - 00:07:52.740
Just this year, in December. Well, I guess it was into last year, December, A prompting comes. Contact this charter school. You're struggling with reader reading scores.
You can help them get in there and get teaching them your curriculum. And I was like, what? So I schedule a meeting. It happens, right? The principal is like, I'm all in. I'm all in. Let's start in two weeks. In two weeks.
And I'm like, well, I don't think I'm ready in two weeks, right? So I start to feel myself going backwards. And I'm like, no, I'm committed. This is an opportunity. I felt prompted. I'm moving forward.
I have been prepared enough. I know what I am doing. So I get going with this. I'm feeling pretty confident about it. She sees some of the difference as she comes in.
She's watching me teach these. These struggling readers, and she calls me back in for another meeting and says, I want all my teachers to do it.
I just met with the teachers yesterday, and they were giving pushback. But you know what is amazing to me? It's amazing to me. This is when you know you are aligned with God.
Because even with their pushback and even with my little bit of, I was able to say a prayer in my heart and the things that came out of my mouth, like, nobody knew in that room that I was having a moment of like, oh, my gosh, what am I doing? What if it's not perfect enough, Right? No, it's working. And every concern that they had, I knew how to answer that concern, right?
I was able to do that. And then, of course, I went back through all my curriculum, and I was like, what if. Ah.
Because I have dyslexia, right? What if I spelled the word wrong and I didn't catch it? And neither did. Neither did the spell check, right? But you know what? No, it's okay.
And what I said to them is, I said, you guys were piloting this. You guys are my piloters. We're piloting this out here. I want you to give me your feedback.
If you find something I've spelled wrong, please make a note of it. If you think that something else is missing from this curriculum, let me know. What I want is the same thing that you want.
A program that actually closes gaps it is published. It is out there. It is being piloted so how do
Tamara K. Anderson
00:07:52.740 - 00:09:26.580
you know if the goal calling you is actually from God? I'm now going to share with you several questions you can ask that I call the Discernment Checklist. First Question does it bring peace?
Even if this goal or calling is scary, does the thought of finishing it bring peace to your soul? Question number two does it serve others? A divine calling often ripples out to bless someone else. Question 3 Does it require growth?
If you can do it perfectly on your own strength, it might just be a good idea. If it requires a lot of faith and stretching to act, it is likely a goal calling. Question 4 Is it a persistent thought?
Does it keep coming back again and again and again, even though you may be trying to ignore it? If so, there's a good chance it's from God. If that goal is still calling to you after today, stop pushing it aside.
Go download our free A Guide to Goal Setting for Christian Women. It features the sacred brainstorm that will help you filter out your thoughts until only the God given assignment remains.
And if you need a mentor to help you navigate the scary stretch of your calling, come join us in our Women Warriors Accountability Group. We'll help you turn that whisper into a roar. The links are in the description below.
Go answer that call today, my friends, and until next time, may you arise. Do it God's way. God strong.
