WHEN YOU NEED TO KNOW YOUR PURPOSE

I think one of the things that can really get a gal’s heart down is when she can’t seem to find her sense of purpose.

Maybe she once had a sense of purpose, but she lost it somewhere along her path.

Maybe she is still searching for a sense of purpose, but can’t seem to find it.

Maybe she tried on a particular purpose for size and quickly discovered that it didn’t quite sit with her the right way.

Maybe she’s given up trying to find her sense of purpose and its left her feeling more like she’s just wandering her way through life, a little aimless and lost.

Maybe she’s on fire in her purpose, but some days, she feels a little burnt out from maintaining her passion.

Maybe she feels like the only one who doesn’t have a sense of purpose.

I think we can all find ourselves somewhere in those different realms of our search for purpose. Here’s where I think sometimes we get tripped up, sweet ones.

Too often, we are looking for our sense of purpose in a title, a label, or status. Our purpose gets too closely tied to what we do, instead of who we are.

What we do changes, right? Whatever our job title, label, or status – it changes with time. It’s not something we can depend on for security and significance.

Discovering what we were made to do in terms of a job or hobby or status is a beautiful thing, but there’s more to our purpose than what we do.

Can I encourage your heart for a moment?

You are not just what you do.

Your overarching purpose in life is to know and love God, to be known and loved by God, and to love others.  (“He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Luke 10:27)

You are not defined by a title, label, or status, you are defined as a daughter of God, and from that place, God will use you to reflect Himself to others in a billion little ways.

I think it’s absolutely important to discover God’s special assignments for us and to operate in our gifts, but sweet ones, while we’re on that journey of discovering what we were made to do and be, we can have a strong sense of purpose every single day. When our purpose is tied to God, to His love and His love for us, purpose oozes out of us in everyday ways. And whether a fancy title, job, or status comes with that or not, we never have to live a day without purpose.

If you’ve been struggling to feel a sense of purpose in your life, today, I want to encourage you to retreat for a few minutes with God. Tell Him how you feel. Tell Him you’ve felt a bit lost. Grab a pen and journal and unravel your thoughts to Him and with Him. Then prayerfully come up with a purpose statement – not with a job title, label, or status in it, something a bit more reflective of Whose you are.

Here’s some examples:

My purpose is….

• To know God and to make God known
• To invite others into the beauty of knowing Jesus
• To reflect God’s love to the world around me
• To dance through life with joy and passion for God
• To live every day in tune to God
• To know and love God

You see, titles, labels, and statuses will come and go. They are blessings when they come, but they don’t have to define us. And oftentimes, we are looking for God to define us with a title, label, or status when He’s already defined us:

CHOSEN –

“But you are a CHOSEN people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

 

ADOPTED –

“the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:15b-16

 

LOVED –

“The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20b

AMBASSADORS –

“So we are Christ’s ambassadors.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

I know what it feels like to not know your purpose. It feels heavy. I hope and pray something here lifts your heart today. I hope and pray that you know today in a fresh way that you are a gal with purpose and that as you let God’s purposes and love for you sink in deeply, you will discover a new sense of purpose for your everyday life. Go in it. Walk with purpose today and every day. You were made for purposes you can’t see yet, but in the meantime, you can know that you can live with purpose now.

Purpose isn’t in what you do, it’s in Whose you are.

You are loved, sweet one.