Still Called, Still Chosen: The Real Story of St. Patrick

Every March 17th, the world turns green. Parades, shamrocks, and a lot of things that have nothing to do with the man the day is named after. But the real story of Patrick is one of the most powerful stories of calling, forgiveness, and faithfulness in Christian history.

Isaiah 43:1: "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine."

A teenager taken captive

Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the late 300s or early 400s. His family was Christian in name, but by his own account, he didn't take God seriously as a boy.

Around age sixteen, raiders attacked his family's estate and carried him across the sea to Ireland, where he was sold into slavery. For about six years, he tended animals on cold hillsides, often hungry and alone.

Meeting God in the hardest place

In his own writing, known as his Confession, Patrick describes how his faith came alive in captivity. Alone in the fields, he began to pray, sometimes a hundred times in a day and as many at night, through snow and rain. The God he had ignored in comfort became real to him in chains.

Maybe that's your story too. Sometimes the place you'd never choose is the place God meets you most clearly.

Psalm 34:18: "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

Escape, and then the call back

After about six years, Patrick escaped, traveled a long way to the coast, and eventually made it home to his family. That could have been the end of the story: rescued, safe, done.

But Patrick later wrote that he sensed God calling him back to Ireland. Back to the land where he had been enslaved. Back to the people who had taken everything from him. Not for revenge, but to tell them about Jesus.

He went. He spent the rest of his life there, preaching, baptizing, and planting churches, often facing danger and opposition along the way.

What Patrick teaches us about being called

Your past doesn't disqualify you. Patrick was a careless young man, then a slave. God called him anyway. Still called. Still chosen.

Forgiveness can become a mission. The people who hurt Patrick became the people he gave his life to reach. Only God can do that in a heart.

Sometimes the call is back to the hard place. Not every calling leads somewhere new. Sometimes God sends us back to the family, the town, or the situation we escaped, with a different heart and a different purpose.

Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

About the shamrock

You've probably heard that Patrick used a three-leaf shamrock to explain the Trinity. It's a lovely tradition, but it's a legend that appears long after his lifetime. What we know for certain comes from Patrick's own words: he was a humble man who believed God had rescued him and sent him.

Reflect

• Where has God met you in a place you never would have chosen?
• Is there a "hard place" God might be calling you back to, with a new heart?
• Who do you need to forgive, so that bitterness doesn't get the last word?

A prayer

Lord, thank You that You call us by name, even when we've ignored You, even when life has taken things from us. Meet me in the hard places like You met Patrick. Give me a heart that forgives and a courage that obeys, even when You send me somewhere I'd rather not go. I am Yours. Amen.

Wear the reminder: explore the Called by Name Collection, inspired by Isaiah 43:1, and read Understanding Isaiah 43:1: Called by Name.