The summer after my sophomore year of college I had a powerful experience in Scripture that I would now say concluded my process of conversion. While I certainly had been in the process of following Jesus to that point, my experience in Genesis 8:1 was the final 'tipping point' that finished up the initial work of conversion. That work had been in the making from birth (I was raised in a Christian home) and had several other significant turning points through the years.
My professor is arguing that one of the important benefits of understanding our conversion as a process rather than a one-time event is that the contours of our conversion stories can give us clues to both our deeper struggles and to how God might use us in the future.
For example, my professor grew up in a fundamentalist tradition that was deeply skeptical of reason and the life of the mind. This caused him to drift from the faith he grew up in for a period of time. He had a definitive turning point when he stumbled upon an institution that emphasized the God-given value and power of the life of the mind. So now, many years later, he's got his Ph.D. and he's a professor at a major North American Seminary.
The ways that we come to faith are good indicators of how we will proceed in faith. This is not only true for full-time 'religious professionals' but for everyone. Our past stories often contain the seeds for the future of our calling.
So when we're trying to figure out God's will for our lives, it's helpful not only to think about our gifts, abilities and interests but also to look back to consider how the story of our spiritual journey might contain clues to our place in God's world.
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