What Does God Want You To Do Before You Die?

By Callie Daruk

Death will come certainly but it may come suddenly.

Through her own struggle to find purpose, author Callie Daruk opens our eyes to the importance and urgency of fulfilling our callings. Her thought-provoking reflections cause you to look into your own heart and stir you to ask for yourself the question we should all be asking, What Does God Want You to do Before You Die?

It's time to take a long hard look at ourselves. Have we as Christians asked what it is we're supposed to be doing with our lives? Have we accomplished what we've set out to accomplish? What are the gifts and callings God has placed on our lives and are we using them?

These 30 devotions are designed to help you discover at least one thing God wants you to do before you die and launch you toward accomplishing it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CrossLink Publishing
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393492580

Book preview

DAY ONE

INTRODUCTION

What shall I do, Lord?

—Acts 22:10 KJV

All heaven lies before the grasp of the asking man…

—Charles Spurgeon

The question glared at me from the screen as I awaited the morning’s keynote speaker. I’d never heard of Ben Nemtin but judging by the roar of the audience as he approached the platform, I was the only one.

With great passion and poise, Ben shared the epic story of how, following a serious battle with depression and through a series of unlikely events, he and three friends got together to create a television show, The Buried Life. Inspired by a line in an old poem, the show consisted of four guys with an old video camera and an even older van who embarked on a quest to answer one simple question:

What do you want to do before you die?

Together the friends made a checklist of random and seemingly impossible things they’d like to accomplish before they died. What began as a journey of four college-age guys getting to do some really cool stuff soon became much bigger than themselves.

Moved by people they met along the way with dreams and needs as big as their own, they made a decision that changed everything. For every item they crossed off their own bucket lists, they were going to find someone else and help them cross something off theirs.

I joined in the crowd’s laughter and shared in their tears as Ben told tale after tale of touching heart after heart. Armed with little more than sheer will, determination, and persistence, they watched the impossible become possible one story at a time.

As Ben continued, my heartbeat sped. Again, he asked:

What do you want to do before you die?

I heard his thought-provoking question but, in my heart, I immediately heard a more personal one.

Callie, what do I want you to do before you die?

Though an inaudible whisper, I recognized God’s voice and I heard his question loud and clear. Just that morning in quiet time he’d posed a similar one.

Callie, what did I call you to do?

You called me to write the book, Lord.

So, lets write it.

Three years earlier I’d started writing my memoir but, as it has a way of doing, self-doubt creeped in and I set my manuscript aside. Reliving the trauma of the past coupled with the uncertainty that anyone would want to read what I had to say inevitably caused my flow of words to wane. As the Lord gently spoke to my heart that morning, I had no idea that he was preparing me for the speech I was about to hear.

Before a standing ovation and a barrage of cheers, Ben asked his question one last time.

What do you want to do before you die?

And, one last time, my heart heard:

What does God want you to do before you die?

Plastered on a wall in the back of the room were dozens of fill-in-the-blank sentences that audience members were given the opportunity to complete.

Before I die, I want to __________.

Without hesitation I grabbed the dry erase marker and wrote, Write the book. God and I both knew what book. And, though the marks were erasable, somehow seeing it on that board made my commitment permanent. From the corner of my eye I saw Ben standing in front of the wall smiling and posing with people. I made my way towards him and the photographer snapped a photo of us. I shook Ben’s hand and thanked him knowing the image he’d left on my heart would outlive any photo.

The question followed me, and for days I could think of little else. Each morning as I’d read my Bible, verses related to time glowed from the page. In news headlines, on the television, and in conversations, signs of the times surrounded me as I fought for a reason not to ask myself this important question and make my own list.

The same signs are surrounding you and I imagine you feel them too. I hear your heart’s cry to accomplish the dreams and the callings God has purposed for your life—but I also hear its excuses:

It’s too late.

I’m too old.

I’ve messed up too badly.

I’ve done _____________________ so God can’t use me.

I hear them so clearly because they’re joining the choir of my own.

When my children were young there were plenty of foul odors to go around, but one of the worst smells I noticed was when they’d leave a sippy cup full of milk in the car. I never understood how they wedged those cups into so many hidden places, but they always managed it. At first, the odor would be strong and I’d recognize it right away. I’d smell it every time I got in the car, but over time I got used to it. Eventually, I’d find the old cup with the putrid milk and throw it