For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10
For many years after I became a paramedic, I thought I had simply happened into the job. And for a long stretch of those years, I was miserable. Not because the work itself was terrible. The work was meaningful. But my approach to it was wrong. I had not yet seen what God was doing. I had not yet recognized the purpose He had woven into the path I was on. I was doing the job but missing the calling behind it. And there is a significant difference between the two.
What I did not understand then was that God was preparing me. The years in emergency medicine were not a detour from purpose. They were the formation of it. He was building in me a heart for people in their most vulnerable moments. He was developing patience, composure, and compassion under pressure. He was laying the groundwork for a career in healthcare and for a ministry that would one day be built on the foundation of those very experiences.
Paul writes in Ephesians 2 with language that should stop every believer in their tracks. We are God’s workmanship. The Greek word is poiema, the word from which we get poem. A carefully crafted work. Something made with intention, artistry, and purpose. Not mass produced. Not accidental. Deliberately formed.
And then Paul adds the detail that changes everything. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Before we were born. Before we choose a career or a direction, or make a single decision about the shape of our lives. God had already placed specific works inside us that we were made to do. The calling was not waiting for us to figure it out. It was embedded in us from the beginning.
The question was never whether we have a calling. The question is whether we are walking in it.
So many believers spend years feeling the way I felt in those early paramedic years. Doing something. Moving forward. But somehow missing the deeper current of purpose that should be running beneath it all. Sometimes that feeling is a sign that we are in the wrong place entirely. But sometimes it is a sign that we are in exactly the right place, but have not yet surrendered our approach to God, so He can show us why He put us there.
The altar of calling is where that surrender happens. It is the place where we stop asking God whether He has a purpose for our lives and start trusting that He has already placed one within us. It is where we bring our confusion, our misalignment, our sense of wandering, and lay it down before the One who ordained our steps before we took them.
This altar is the final one in this series. And that is intentional. Every altar we have visited has been leading here. Surrender prepared us to receive a calling we did not plan. Repentance cleared the path back to it. Prayer kept us connected to the One who issued it. Stillness allowed us to hear it. Worship kept our motives pure. Sacrifice removed what distracted us. Obedience is how we walk it out. Remembrance reminds us that God has been faithful in every step. And community surrounds us as we live it.
All of those altars converge at this one.
You are not here by accident. You are not a coincidence. You are a poem, carefully crafted, intentionally formed, placed in this specific moment of history with specific works already ordained for you to walk in.
The misery I felt was not evidence that I was in the wrong story. It was evidence that I had not yet understood my role in the right one. You were made for this. Whatever this is for you, the work, the ministry, the relationships, the place God has put you, you were made for it. You are God’s workmanship. The works were ordained before you were born. The only question left is whether you will walk in them.
These devotionals are written to encourage, challenge, and support you in your walk with God. If they are meaningful to you, you can subscribe and receive them by email.
If you’re looking for additional resources to continue your time with God, you can find our books and reading plans available at anotherwell.org/books. These devotionals are designed to help you slow down, reflect deeply, and stay rooted in God’s Word throughout your day.
About Another Well Ministries
Another Well Ministries exists to help people slow down, listen deeply, and encounter God in the ordinary places of life. Through devotionals, reflections, and spiritual resources, we seek to create space for faith to be formed with honesty, grace, and hope.
To learn more about the heart of the ministry or explore additional resources, visit anotherwell.org.
