đđ˝ââď¸I decided to stop doubting my value…
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đđ˝ââď¸I decided to stop trying to control my destiny through my actions. My choices. My decisions. My planning.
đđ˝ââď¸I decided to stop chasing purpose…..
Are you a Christian single who struggles with sexual purity? Do you find yourself “falling” into sexual sin repeatedly? Â Is your mind consumed with thoughts of sexual intimacy with others? Â Well. You’re not alone in your struggle my friend.Â
Comparison. It’s the thief of joy and self-acceptance. It’s a never-ending measuring stick. It deceives you into thinking youâre behind, inadequate, deficient and inferior to someone else. It causes you to overlook your own giftedness and greatness, value and worth. It causes you to focus on what you lack rather then what you have.
Disappointment. Not a feeling or emotional state any of us want to stay stuck in. Since I’ve been reading Lisa Terkerust’s book “It’s not supposed to be this way“, I’ve been THINKING a lot about my own disappointments in life.  And by disappointment, I’m mean a feeling of sadness or loss concerning an outcome that didn’t turn out the way I had expected, anticipated or hoped.
Shame. A silent epidemic. No one wants to acknowledge it. No one wants to speak of it. I get it. But the reality is weâve all experienced it. Whether we want to admit it or not. Shame is a hard topic to discuss. But if we keep ignoring it in ourselves or others, we’ll never be able to walk confidently in who God has uniquely created us to be.
The Voice of Shame
The voice of shame is cruel, insensitive, demeaning, degrading and destructive. It strips us of hope for a positive future and it poisons our perspective, damages our sense of power and robs us of fulfilling our potential and purpose. Shame deceives us into believing we are inherently bad, unwanted, unlovable, undesirable and unworthy of unconditional love, acceptance, and belonging.
Pain and Pressure
Not too long ago, I was telling a friend how much I had grown over the past 3 years and she wanted to know my secret. So I simply said, âpain and pressure.â I think most of us want to grow personally AND professionally but we wouldn’t dare ask for more pain and pressure to be added to our lives right?
The mission of discovering and fulfilling one’s purpose is a HOT topic these days. Everywhere you look there’s a book, advertisement or podcast about how to discover your purpose.
Heck, there’s even a Life Purpose Institute in California designed to certify folks as professional PURPOSE coaches. Pastor Rick Warren wrote an entire book and devotional on how to discover and live a purpose-driven life which also includes a purpose-driven life assessment.
Knowing why you were created is not only critical to your psychological well-being, it’s critical for your spiritual well-being. Pastor Rick Warren says,
“If you didn’t create yourself, you can’t discover the meaning and purpose for your life by yourself.”
Knowing the purpose of your life directly impacts what you do with your life. When you don’t know the purpose for something, you don’t know what function it is to perform or fulfill. After you’ve read this post, be sure to download my free personal reflection worksheet I created to help you process your divine purpose.
Do you know your God-Given Purpose on Earth?
Knowing why you’ve been created can not be discovered apart from knowing the One who created you. To discover your purpose is to first discover your creator. Only your creator can share the purpose for you–his BEST creation.
Our creator God had a specific purpose in mind for creating you and itâs up to you to not only discover it but willingly surrender to it.
- If I were to ask you if you have a sense of direction and purpose for your life, how would you answer me?
- If I were to ask you if you know what you were created to do on this earth, what would you say?
- How about if I asked you how does your work(job, career, vocation, etc.) align with your God-given purpose?
- And what if I asked you how you’re living out your God-given purpose each day. What would you say?
Your Purpose is found in your Creator
Did you find those questions easy or difficult to answer? Do you have clarity on your purpose or are you seeking to still gain clarity? When we look to Godâs word concerning who we are and why weâve been created, hereâs what I’ve discovered:
- We are Godâs workmanship, His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works he has prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:10)
- We are a royal priesthood, Godâs special possession and because of that, we are to proclaim His goodness in the world. (1 Pt2:9)
- We are Christâs ambassadors, His chosen ones who are to speak His wonderful message of reconciliation and salvation in this world. (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
- We are created to reconcile unbelievers to God because Heâs not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance (2Pt.3:9).
- We have been commissioned to go into all the world as Christâs witnessesâtraining up others to be followers of Christâs teachings. (Mt 28:19).
- We are to share the reason for the hope we have (1 Pt.3:15).
This is why weâve been created. To be Christâs witnesses and ambassadors who proclaim good news–the news of Christ’s salvation and gift of eternal life for all who beleive in Him.
Discovering Your Unique Mission
Now that you know WHY you’ve been created (to be Christ’s witness and ambassador) AND are aware of WHAT God has created you to do (good works) âyou must now discover the specific type of good works He has for you to do using the unique gifts He’s given YOU.
Knowing your specific ‘good works’ requires you to be aware of your God-given passions, interests, strengths, talents, gifts, preferences, values, convictions, desires, burdens and dreams. All of these elements (and many more) are tools that He uses to guide you to the good works Heâs uniquely created you to do.
To put it plainly. Itâs up to us to discover HOW God has uniquely fashioned us so we can align our divine design to the specific work Heâs gifted and purposed us to do. And our work shouldn’t just be to serve our selves. It should be work that glorifies God and demonstrates love, compassion, kindness and service toward others.
Thereâs a lot of âgood worksâ that need to be done in our world. And Godâs word is FULL of instructions on how we are to love God and love people. The good works we are to do can be summed up in one word: LOVE. No Matter our profession, passions, preferences or position in life, we are to love God and people, as we love ourselves.
 Asking ourselves the Right Question
So. Instead of asking ourselves “What is my purpose?”, maybe we should be asking ourselves…
“How can I BEST love God, myself and others using the unique gifts, talents, passions and interests He has purposely placed inside of me?”
As we discover the answer to THIS question, I believe we will have gained more insight into the what and how of our purpose. Knowing your Why (purpose), leads to discovering your WHAT (unique mission) and your HOW (divine design) for fulfilling it.
- Side note: Here’s a tool you can use to discover how God divinely designed or shaped you to do good works. You can access it online here or download a pdf of the S.H.A.P.E. test here.
Discover your Divine Design
It’s time to discover your divine design so you can know how God has equipped you to fulfill your God-given mission and in turn, your God-given purpose. Get clarity on who he’s created you to be so you can know what good works He’s prepared for you to go and do.
Now. There’s just one thing I want to emphasize to you above and beyond discovering your purpose and it’s this.
Pursuing your personal passions and interests can be a good thing to do, but pursuing God’s presence is the greatest thing you can do.
Because when you seek His presence above your purpose, you’ll discover everything else follows.
More Self-Discovery Tools and Assessments
If you’d like to explore the 5 PURPOSES of a purpose-driven life as defined by Pastor Rick Warren, take the Purpose Driven Life assessment here.
If you’d like to know and assess the 6 dimensions of our psychological well-being, check out this research-based Psychological Well-being assessment here.
If you’d like to know your spiriutal gifts, take the Spiritual Gifts assessment here.
Talk to Me
If this post inspired, motivated, encouraged or maybe even challenged you, I’d love to hear about it. Please share your story with me HERE. I can’t wait to connect with you!