Why Don't the People Who Knew Me First Believe in My Calling?

By Angela D. Thomas, DrPH, MPH, MBA

Because familiarity has a hard time seeing purpose. The people from your place of preparation often still see the old you, the version they knew before God grew you, and that is not a reason to be crushed. Even Jesus wasn't honored in His own hometown. Knowing this ahead of time protects your heart.

Let me talk to the woman who got hurt by home. You went and became who God called you to be. You grew, you studied, you stepped into your assignment. And then you went back around the people who knew you before all of that, expecting them to celebrate, and instead you got a shrug. They still treat you like the old you. And it stung more than you expected it to.

I want to prepare you for that today, because it happened to Jesus too, and He told us plainly it would happen to us.

What Happened When Jesus Went Back to His Hometown?

He went back to Nazareth, His place of preparation, now walking in His purpose with His disciples following Him. He taught in the synagogue, and at first the people were amazed. But then the amazement curdled real quick. Mark 6:3 (NKJV) says, "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? So they were offended at Him."

Do you hear what they did? They talked about the mighty works of His hands, and then in the very same breath they shrunk Him back down to the trade those hands used to do. Isn't this just the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's boy? We know His brothers. We know His sisters. They couldn't get past the version of Him they were familiar with long enough to honor the purpose standing right in front of them.

And Jesus named it for all time. Mark 6:4 (NKJV) says, "But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.'" Read that one carefully. He did not say a prophet gets no honor anywhere. He said the single hardest place to get honored is home, among the people who knew you before.

Why Familiar People Struggle to See Your Purpose

Because they met you in your preparation, and it's hard for them to update the file. I know this one personally. Not long ago I went back home to serve in an official capacity at a funeral. I wasn't there as somebody's cousin or somebody's old friend from around the way. I was there walking in my actual role, the title God grew me into, doing the very thing I am called and trained to do. And it did not matter one bit. In that room, to those people, I was not Dr. A. I was just Angie. Same girl they always knew. And you know what, it is okay. But I remember it landing on me like, oh, this is not my place of purpose. This is my place of preparation. I love it and I value it, but it is not where I am going to be honored for my assignment, because the people here can only see who I used to be.

Here's what I don't want you to miss. That is not always rejection with bad intent behind it. Sometimes the people who love you the most just genuinely cannot see the new thing, because they're still holding the old picture of you. So when you expect it, you can receive it without falling apart. You don't get hurt the same way. You don't build a whole emotional courtroom case around it. You just understand, this is my place of preparation, and preparation places don't always hand out honor.

And hear me clearly, because this is where a lot of women lose themselves. Do not shrink back down to the old picture just to make the familiar folks comfortable. That is the temptation. You get around people who only knew the old you, and you feel this pull to play small, to act like God never grew you, to be just Angie again so nobody feels some kind of way. Don't you do it. Jesus didn't stop being who He was because Nazareth couldn't handle it. He honored the room, and then He kept it moving. You can love your people and still refuse to un-become who God made you.

What Happens to Your Purpose When Home Doesn't Believe?

Something sobering, and I don't want you to rush past it. Mark 6:5 (NKJV) says, "Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them." Even Jesus. The unbelief of the familiar limited what could happen in that place. Not because His power got smaller, but because you cannot pour into people who refuse to see who you've become.

So let me give you some grace to carry into this. Extend grace to the people who can only see the old you. Don't waste your purpose trying to convince your hometown. Let God honor you where He has planted your purpose, and release the folks who can only remember your preparation. It doesn't make them villains. It just means they knew you back in Nazareth, and your Jerusalem is somewhere else.

Take this to the Word yourself. Mark 6:1-6, John 1:11, Matthew 13:57.

What This Means for You

Who have you been waiting to be honored by, when God may have already released you to walk in your purpose somewhere they'll never fully see it?

Yesterday we separated preparation from purpose. Today we made peace with the people who can only see the old you. Next up, we close the whole series with the one thing that actually launched Jesus into His ministry, and it is not what you'd expect.

I teach God's Word weekly inside the SheShed Community, and this is exactly the kind of teaching that hits different when you're in the room for it. The replay of this teaching, “The Amazing 30,” is available inside the community as well. Come sit with us.