Finding My Purpose, So Simple, Right? (Part 1)

Wrong. I wish it was.

I’ve always been envious of people who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Honestly, I was that person for a long time. I always dreamed about being a teacher. Then my ninth grade English teacher convinced me I needed to go into journalism so my dream changed to becoming a journalist.

One night when I was dating my husband while we were in college, we were talking about careers. He commented that my face always lit up when I talked about teaching. Within the week I had switched my major to teaching. Though I thought my purpose was to be a teacher, I learned that my purpose was not my job or my career as my jobs changed throughout my life. I learned that my purpose could be lived out in my job. It could also be outside of my job. So, how do I find my purpose?

Pray

I wish I could say I always started with prayer in the past, but I didn’t. I usually started everywhere else but prayer. Recently, I re-examined what my purpose was; and this time I decided to do it right. I started with prayer and am continuing to pray. 

Identity

In my last post, I talked about identity. Truly resting in my identity as a daughter of the Most High helps when trying to determine my purpose. Why? Because instead of looking at myself and my purpose through the eyes of the world and what the world expects, I can look at myself through the eyes of God. Have I mastered that? Absolutely not, but I’m working on it.

Along with Praying and Identity

Along with prayer and identity, I began to look at three areas. Those were determining my gifts, determining my talents, and areas where my heart (and God’s heart) breaks. 

Determine Gifts

Spiritual gifts are the gifts we receive when we become a Christian. (Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13-14, 1 Cor. 12:7-11). My spiritual gifts have changed or certain ones have surfaced at different seasons of life.  When I looked at my spiritual gifts, it helped me to narrow down my purpose. I took this spiritual gifts inventory recently. If you decide to take this test too, it might be helpful to write down your spiritual gifts. You can use the worksheet at the end of this article to help you.

Determine Talents

I always wished I could sing, play the guitar, paint, and draw; but alas, God did not give me those talents. Instead he blessed me with the talents of teaching, writing, organization, and relationships. I’m not saying that I’m the best in each of these areas; they’re just not difficult for me. We all have talents. God designed us that way. 

If you’re thinking about your talents, ask yourself: What do I do that comes naturally? What did I go to school to do? In my job, past or present, what comes naturally without much effort? If you would like, you can add those to the worksheet as well.

That’s a good start for now. If you’re wrestling with your purpose, I encourage you to continue to pray and rest in your identity as a child of God and wait. I know, waiting stinks. I’m the worst at it; but if you are wrestling with this, I’d love to hear from you and pray with you through this. Feel free to contact me here. 

Next time, we’ll look at determining where your heart and God’s heart breaks and how to put it all together!

Purpose.pdf

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