{"id":388,"date":"2025-05-13T00:14:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T04:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2025-05-13T00:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T04:15:18","slug":"letting-go-of-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/letting-go-of-the-table\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting Go of the Table. Picking Up the Sword."},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Why I\u2019m Leaving Massage \u2014 and Saying Yes to the Next Call<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a time, I\u2019ve had the privilege of serving people through massage therapy. I didn\u2019t stumble into it \u2014 I was called. I first experienced healing as a client, and something about that encounter stirred something deep in me:
\u201cI want to help people the way I was helped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That desire to serve and heal was real. So I went to school, studied hard, trained well, and eventually stepped into massage therapy as a second career. And for a season, it was beautiful. I got to be a small part of people’s healing \u2014 not just physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But calling isn’t always forever. Sometimes it’s seasonal. And recently, God made it clear:
This chapter is coming to a close \u2014 because a new one is beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massage taught me how to serve with my hands.
Now God is calling me to serve with my voice.<\/em>
To speak truth, cut down lies, disciple others, and bring healing in new ways \u2014 not just muscular, but theological.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that the desire to help people has faded. If anything, it\u2019s intensified.
It\u2019s just that God is expanding the battlefield.
He\u2019s showing me that the greatest pain people carry isn\u2019t just in their backs or shoulders \u2014 it\u2019s in their beliefs.
In the lies they\u2019ve been told about God.
In the questions they were never allowed to ask.
In the shame they still carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the best way I can serve now\u2026 is to step fully into the path He\u2019s laid out:
Graduate study.
Discipleship.
Teaching.
Writing.
Faithful wrestling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I could technically keep doing massage on the side.
But that\u2019s not where my heart is anymore.
And the truth is: every hour I hold onto something God\u2019s asked me to lay down\u2026 is an hour I\u2019m not stepping into what He has for me now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t about money.
This isn\u2019t about being busy.
This is about obedience.<\/em>
It\u2019s about being faithful not just to what God once called me to, but to what He\u2019s calling me to now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know not everyone will understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may say, \u201cBut you were good at it.\u201d
Or \u201cDidn\u2019t God call you to massage in the first place?\u201d
Or \u201cWhat about all that time and money you invested?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s my answer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I was good at it.
Yes, God did call me to it.
And no \u2014 none of that was wasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massage was training ground.
It taught me to care deeply, to pay attention, to hold space for others.
And those are the very skills I\u2019ll carry into this next chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But healing was never meant to stop at the body.
It\u2019s time to go deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God has called me to confront lies with truth,
To teach and defend what\u2019s good,
To comfort the afflicted \u2014 and afflict the comfortable \u2014 with Scripture, reason, and love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to do that well, I need margin.
I need focus.
I need to be all-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I\u2019m letting go of the table.
Not because it was bad \u2014 but because the season has served its purpose.
And I\u2019m picking up the sword \u2014 not of violence, but of truth.
Because that\u2019s how I\u2019m called to fight now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first of many reflections I\u2019ll be sharing here.
Some will be personal. Some will be theological.
All of them will be written in the tension between what\u2019s real and what\u2019s possible \u2014 what we wrestle with, and what God reveals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for walking with me.
I\u2019m honored to have you in the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever felt God shifting your direction \u2014 even away from something good \u2014 I\u2019d love to hear your story. Let\u2019s wrestle together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letting go of one calling to say yes to another\u2014this is my story of obedience, surrender, and stepping into the next thing God has for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[19,24,18,20,23,25,26,21,22],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calling-vocation","tag-calling","tag-christian-vocation","tag-faith-journey","tag-letting-go","tag-obedience","tag-picking-up-the-sword","tag-purpose","tag-seasons","tag-spiritual-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideasworthwrestlingwith.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}