I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of “finding your purpose” lately and I think we’ve been sold a lie. I remember “looking for it” in my early 20’s, thinking I was supposed to be a doctor and being devastated when it just didn’t seem to fit. I tried to get excited with my peers about med school visits and prepping for the MCATs and all that and it just wasn’t happening. Even in college I was creating goals and building routines in my life to prep for this medical school journey and it just wasn’t clicking!
Thankfully I had enough sense to stop pursuing it but I definitely went through a season where I had no idea what I was going to do with my life and definitely panicked a little bit- ok a lot a bit. All my life I was going to be a doctor!
When I decided that being a doctor was not the route I really desired to go and I had no clue of what the next step would be. I just knew that something didn’t sit right with pursuing the medical profession. At the same time I was growing in my relationship with God- finally seeing that He really had good things for my life and that if I sought after Him I’d find them (Jeremiah 29:11-13). But then through a really cool series (read “God orchestrated series” lol) of events I ended up in the public health field and now along with that, finding that I love helping people organize their lives to open up room for their dreams. I learned that stewarding life well is the key to a lot of our struggles in life.
I also realized that purpose is revealed not searched for. It wasn’t until I started trying things and understanding how I was wired that I fell upon the things I love to do. And, honestly until I started pursuing God.
“It’s the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out”
Proverbs 25:2
So how can purpose be revealed? Two things:
Study the Designer
True purpose can be found when we study the One who created us and study how we were created and wired. Ya’ll remember The Little Mermaid? She had some identity issues herself but we not going to go there today (HAHA!)). Remember how she used to go through shipwrecks, pull out treasures and try to figure out how to use them?It reminds me of the scene when she was using a fork for a comb. She never saw anyone with experience use it and couldn’t talk to the designer of the fork so she just did what made sense to her with it. She needed to talk with the creator of the fork or see an example of the right way to use that fork right?
Maybe we’ve tried to figure out how we work on our own. We have some idea how our personalities have us bent towards. Or maybe we’ve been misused just like Ariel misused that fork? Abuse in our past can definitely color who we think are and how we show up in the world.
So let me ask you: How do we expect to learn about our prepared works or what we’re designed to do without knowing the Creator? Now she probably wouldn’t be able to find the designer of the fork to learn how to use it but she could find someone who studied fork history (haha!) and see people use forks properly right?
We have an advantage when it comes to our design. We have a manual to our design from the Designer Himself and we can have a relationship with Him to learn all about ourselves.
“Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Jeremiah 33:3
We can call to the One who made us and learn all the hidden things inside of us that He created for good (Ephesians 2:10).
Figuring out purpose starts with studying the Designer.
Study the Design
Purpose also comes from studying the design! Studying YOU!
So, friend what makes you tick? What gets you riled up? What are you passionate about? Or how about, what are you good at? What do you love to do and would do for no money? For me? It’s helping people build systems in their lives so that they can steward life well. Its also just figuring out systems to make things easier in general! I love looking at a problem and figuring out what the next best step is. But this knowledge didn’t come just by me waking up one day and knowing it. It came by me learning and studying myself, noticing when I did things well and when I did things not so well. It came from also studying the Designer (RE: the first part of this blog LOL).
“For it was You who formed my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Psalm 139: 13 NRSV
“Then the Lord God formed [that is, created the body of] man from the dust of the ground…”
Genesis 2:7 AMP
God made us with personalities, skills, all types of cool things and every part is important. When we take time to look in the mirror and see what works and what doesn’t work when we try it we will go a long way in learning our purpose.
So guys! Dive in. Start studying the Designer and the design and see what you come up with!
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