The greatest tragedy in life is not death but a life lived without purpose —Myles Munroe
No experience is wasted upon reflection of purpose. I realize in hindsight that all my experiences have been shaping me for His purpose in this season. My passion and problems have beautifully converged to produce purpose.
Early Passions
Christian Missions has been my heartbeat from my teenage years and in particular cross-cultural missions. For many years, the word “nations” sparked every time I read it in the Bible. I am the bookworm, scholar and only trained educator in my maternal family up to this point.
As an introvert, reading, researching and learning have been my all-consuming passion. I am also a third-generation educator on the paternal side of my family (my grandaunt, grandmother and father were all teachers).
While pursuing my passion for cross-cultural missions and a desire for higher education, one problem that has dogged me all these years: lack of money. There was never enough money to buy textbooks, pursue higher education and travel to the nations.
As a result, I struggled while serving in missions and during school. It was sponsorships and scholarships that fostered my cross-cultural missional engagements and higher learning endeavors. I am thus, eternally grateful to those who contributed financially to my ministry and educational endeavours, and I am determined pay it forward.
Convergence
At this juncture, I realize that my training as an educator, my involvement in Christian missions along with my passion for books and research have beautifully converged to solve my financial problems and have positioned me to help to solve the financial problems of others. Through authorship and Authorpreneurship, I can now help others who have been like me.
As I reflect on all my life experiences these 39 years, I recognize that my problems and passions have become my purpose. The solutions to my pain/problems along with my personality and giftings have become the outworking of my unique God-given purpose and ultimate mission in this season of my life.
And, here is the clincher as it relates to figuring out your purpose. We are called to help people like us, who now have problems that were similar to the ones we’ve had. Our duty is to help them with the solutions that we found to solve our problems.
Get Reflective
You are called to serve people just like YOU. Write down the answers to the questions below.
- What are your passions, pains and problems?
- How have you solved them? Therein lies your unique purpose.
- Who are the people now dealing with your past problems and pain? Therein lies your target audience and people to serve.
- What then is your purpose?
- Your purpose is calling and it’s time to answer. Someone’s destiny is tied to your purpose; don’t keep them waiting!
COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK
NOTE: This is one of the 21 pep talks from an upcoming book titled, “Shaped for Purpose.”
How has this pep talk inspired you? Leave a comment and let me know.
Cheers,
Ruth
