Some of the simplest people have accomplished the most amazing feats. They started out like you and I, tiny and helpless and knowing nothing at all. Clean slate. Blank canvas. Because we can’t see into the future, we don’t know what level of greatness we’re called to. But make no mistake, each of us has a calling.

Despite being raised in Pharaoh’s household, Moshe fled into the wilderness after killing an Egyptian. A place where it was just him alone with his thoughts. Maybe you’ve gone through your own wilderness experience. In the desert, there’s a lot of time to ponder how we’ve gotten to this point in our development, and think about what we might have done or said differently.

Maybe after derailing your personal life, you wondered how you could ever get it back on track. If you’ve endured a loss you may wonder if life will ever be the same, if your joy will ever return. You may have lost your momentum and wondered what’s next?

Though Moshe was most likely trained for greater things, like becoming the next Pharaoh, he soon decided that he would make the best of the present. He married and started a family. He may have thought he was an ordinary man, until he met up with that burning bush. But he was soon surprised to learn he had another calling. He became part of an event so significant that it has been the focus of annual celebration for thousands of years.

Though I’m no Moshe, I’ve had that burning bush experience. After years of people saying, “This is your year!” “You’ll be a famous artist one day!” “Remember me when you’re rich and famous!” I woke up to discover that I’d lost all desire to create any kind of artwork. Thinking I just needed a break, I stopped creating for a time, waiting for joy, inspiration, an idea to spark some kind of interest in continuing my art career. When nothing happened, I had an identity crises. After almost forty years in the field, I wondered who I was without art.

Still, nothing came to me. Months passed. It turns out The Presence was waiting for me to ask, “What’s happening?”

Just as Moshe had begun settling, I too had settled. Just like Moshe had loads of experiences, expertise, and training that would be wasted, I had experiences, expertise and insight that were languishing. I wasn’t on the right path.

We’re constantly being equipped for greater things if we have eyes to see it. What we thought was a period, can be a comma. When one thing ends, it announces the beginning of something else. It may not look like that in the moment.

In the months that I struggled with who I was, my daughter was on the cusp of moving on to college. My motherly duties were about to change drastically. Who would I be then? And if that wasn’t difficult enough, my marriage was coming apart at the seams. I didn’t expect it to last much longer. (And it didn’t.)

But The Presence provided a “burning bush” moment. A change in direction. A talent that was being under utilized was being elevated. The gift of writing was as easy as falling off a log. And that was going to become my new career. I couldn’t have been more excited about it. When I wrote, time dissolved, days disappeared. Ideas flooded my mind. It was like tuning into a radio and writing everything I heard.

If I hadn’t had the identity crises, I would not have paid attention to the voice that said, I called you to writing. How do I know? Because I had been writing all along, but not pursuing it. Until the end of one thing, I couldn’t see it was time to start the new thing.

There’s a force out there mighty enough to see you through whatever desert experience you’re having. Just tap into it. Listen for the still small voice. Seek the bigger picture, pay attention to the closing doors, look for the open window. The winds of change are blowing. Are you ready to level up?