Let's be completely honest my dear friend,

Some days you scroll past a story of someone who sold everything, moved across the world and “stepped into their calling”… and part of you wonders if that’s what you’re supposed to do too.

Then you look at your actual life — the mortgage, the grandkids, your ageing parents, your job, the dog that knows exactly when dinner should be — and think, “That’s lovely for them, but I still need to pay the power bill.”

Here’s the truth: You do not have to burn your life down to follow God’s calling after forty. In fact, for most midlife women, God’s leading looks far more like faithful, courageous adjustments than dramatic exits.

Let’s talk about how to explore your calling as a Christian woman after 40 in a way that honours your responsibilities, your health and your God-given desires.

What Calling Is (and Isn’t) After 40

We often confuse calling with:

• A job title.

• A platform or brand.

• A spectacular story people will clap for.

But biblically, your calling is first about Who you belong to and how you love — then about the specific assignments God entrusts to you in different seasons.

After forty, calling tends to become:

• Less about proving yourself and more about serving from a place of maturity.

• Less about doing everything and more about focused, meaningful contribution.

• Less about image and more about impact.

If we can release the pressure to have an impressive calling, we make room to receive a faithful one.

The Three Layers of Calling

It can help to picture your calling in three layers.

1. Core Calling: For Every Follower of Jesus

This is the foundation you share with other believers:

• Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

• Love your neighbour as yourself.

• Live as salt and light where you are.

No midlife transition can cancel this calling. It’s your lifelong anchor.

2. Seasonal Calling: For This Chapter of Life

This is where purpose in midlife for Christian women gets specific. Ask:

• Who has God placed around me right now?

• What are my current responsibilities and limits?

• Where do my gifts and other people’s needs intersect?

Your seasonal calling might look like:

• Championing young mums while your own kids are grown.

• Creating resources for women navigating menopause and faith.

• Offering spiritual direction, mentoring or coaching.

• Serving quietly behind the scenes so others can flourish.

3. Daily Faithfulness: For Today

This layer is often overlooked but incredibly important. It’s how you live your calling in the school run, the office, the family group chat, the small-group meeting and the supermarket queue.

Daily faithfulness might look like:

• Listening deeply to one friend instead of overextending yourself.

• Sending a simple encouragement message to someone God puts on your heart.

• Choosing rest instead of people-pleasing so you can show up well tomorrow.

Big callings are built on many small yeses.

How to Explore New Callings Without Torching Your Current Life

If you sense God nudging you towards something new, you don’t have to choose between “ignore it” and “quit everything”. There is a middle way: gentle, intentional experimentation.

Try this three-part approach.

1. Clarify the Nudge

Write down what you’re sensing in simple, honest language. For example:

• “I can’t shake the idea of writing encouragement for women in midlife.”

• “I feel drawn to support carers who are exhausted and lonely.”

• “I’d love to use my business skills to help Christian charities.”

You don’t have to show this to anyone yet. Just get it out of your head and onto paper.

2. Design a Tiny Experiment

Ask, “What’s one way I could try this out in the next month without blowing up my life?”

Some ideas:

• Offer a four-week small group or online gathering around that topic.

• Write a short series of emails or posts and share them with a handful of trusted women.

• Volunteer for a specific project that uses the skills you want to grow.

• Shadow someone who’s already doing what you’re curious about.

Keep your experiment small enough that failure won’t frighten you or your family. Think pilot project, not permanent change.

3. Evaluate With God and With People

After your tiny experiment, reflect prayerfully:

• What gave me joy?

• What drained me more than expected?

• Where did I sense God’s presence most strongly?

Then ask for feedback from one or two trusted people who saw you in action. Their observations can help you discern whether this is a good direction to keep exploring.

Honouring Your Family While You Step Into Something New

Many midlife women hesitate to explore calling because they don’t want to upset the family equilibrium. That concern can actually be a sign of love — and it can be worked with.

Some gentle ways to honour your family as you follow God’s leading:

• Have open conversations early. Rather than announcing, “I’ve signed up for full-time study”, start with, “I’ve been praying and sensing a new direction. Could we talk about what that might look like together?”

• Share the why, not just the what. Explain how this connects to your faith and how you hope it will bless others (including your own household).

• Invite collaboration. Ask your spouse or older kids what boundaries and support would make this sustainable for everyone.

• Protect a few non-negotiables. Decide together which family routines must stay steady (Friday dinners, church, time with grandkids) so your calling feels like a shared journey, not a threat.

Honouring your family doesn’t mean never changing anything. It means making changes thoughtfully, with communication and care.

Making Peace With Finances, Time and Energy

Let’s be truthful: not every dream is realistic for every season. But that doesn’t mean your calling is cancelled. It just means you and God get to be creative together.

A few ideas:

• Finances: Instead of quitting your job, you might start with a small side project or training course. You could adjust your budget to create a tiny “calling fund” for resources, travel or study.

• Time: Map out an honest weekly schedule. Where are there pockets of time you could repurpose without sacrificing sleep or health? Even one focused hour a week can move things forward.

• Energy: Midlife bodies have limits. Build in recovery time. Pay attention to what restores you — walks, creative hobbies, quiet with God — and treat those practices as part of your calling, not a luxury.

Your calling should stretch you, not crush you.

A 30-Day Gentle Challenge to Start Walking in Your Calling

If you’re ready for something tangible, here’s a simple 30-day challenge.

Week 1 – Listen and Notice

• Pray daily, asking God to highlight one area of calling.

• Jot down any nudges, ideas or conversations that seem connected.

Week 2 – Learn and Explore

• Read or listen to one teaching or story each day about calling or purpose.

• Talk to one person who’s living a calling you admire and ask about their small beginnings.

Week 3 – Experiment and Share

• Choose one tiny experiment — a conversation, a gathering, a piece of writing, a volunteer role — and actually do it.

• Let one trusted friend know what you’re trying and ask them to pray.

Week 4 – Reflect and Decide

• Set aside an hour to reflect with God. What did you learn about yourself, about others, and about Him?

• Decide on one ongoing step you’ll keep taking for the next three months.

By the end of 30 days, you won’t have everything figured out. But you will have moved from vague longing to concrete steps — and that’s where genuine calling tends to take shape.

You’re Allowed to Grow, Even After 40

If you’ve ever felt guilty for wanting “more” with God in midlife, hear this: desire is not discontentment by default. Sometimes it’s the Holy Spirit nudging you into the next chapter.

You don’t need to torch your life, move continents or suddenly become someone else. You’re invited to be more fully yourself in Christ, right where you are — with all the wisdom, scars, laughter lines and stories you carry.

So, Christian woman after 40: you have permission to ask questions, to try things, to say no to some expectations and yes to God’s quiet invitations.

Your calling isn’t behind you. It’s unfolding, step by gentle step, as you walk with the One who has been faithfully writing your story all along.

Until we chat again...

Blessings and hugs to you my dear friend,

Dianne xx