Each of us is born with a unique life purpose. For some of us, our purpose in life is obvious and clear. Some of us are born with a set of talents and through persistent practice, we develop our talents into skills and it may help lead us to our purpose.
Yet for others, myself included, it isn’t easy to identify your purpose. We are told to find something you like and pursue it with a passion. I like a variety of things, but, I wouldn’t consider myself to be really passionate about any of them. Sure, I have my normal life “duties” like taking care of my children, being a good mother to them, and being a good wife to my husband, but I didn’t consider those “duties” my purpose. Those are just the given things I needed to do.
I was lost. I knew God had given me a purpose in life, but yet, I had no clue what it was. In November 2016, I was suddenly thrown into the realm of homeschooling. That idea was no where on my radar! I couldn’t wait for the day when both my of my girls were in school so that I could have my days free to do what I wanted to do. And now, after only a year of being home by myself, I had one of my girls home. I was overwhelmed as I had no idea what to do! Pile the lack of patience on top of lack of homeschooling knowledge and it was a recipe for serious stress! I started homeschooling with the end plan of putting her back into school the next fall, after all, I still wanted my days to myself! But, God had another plan and unbeknownst to me, my purpose was starting to be revealed.
Fast forward 4 years and not only am I still homeschooling my youngest, but my oldest also started homeschooling 3 years ago. So much for my free days! I figured God had a great sense of humor because this is NOT what I wanted to do. Then I realized that it’s not about what I wanted, but about what God wanted for me. I embraced my “fate” and did what I had to do. I also started teaching homeschool kids twice a month with Elmore County 4-H. It was then that I realized that I liked teaching kids and actually enjoyed being around them. Heck, I’m a kid at heart myself. But surely this wasn’t my purpose.
Earlier this year, I decided to once and for all find out what my purpose was. I knew there was only one way to find out. That was to have a conversation with God. I had also heard of people saying how they pair fasting with praying when they are trying to seek God’s guidance. Sadly, this was a new concept to me. The only time I had ever heard of fasting was for medical reasons, like blood tests. I decided I had nothing to lose and decided to research about fasting. I had no idea there were many various types of fasting. As I researched, I came upon the Daniel Fast. This was the one for me! I could eat the whole time and it was still considered fasting. I ordered a Daniel Fast book that had daily devotions along with recipes and shopping lists. Once I received the book, I made a menu and got to work. The fast lasted for 3 weeks and I spent more time in prayer during those few weeks than I had spent in my entire life combined. At the end, God had revealed what His purpose for me was: to teach others about Christ and guide them in how to have a true relationship with Him.
I was to go to Malawi this past July, but as you are well aware, those plans were changed due to COVID. Here I had just learned of my purpose, was excited about it and my first chance to obey Him was canceled. I was bummed! Then He told me that my main audience is here, on the home front. There are people in my immediate community that need to know about Christ’s love as much as people in Malawi. And more specifically, to work with children in our church.
Now I know God definitely has a sense of humor, because if given the choice, I certainly wouldn’t have purposefully chosen to be around children. But given my child-like sense of humor, it’s probably for the best.
Teaching the kids bible stories, memory verses, and VBS songs from when I was a kid has been great. Being able to see their excitement and growth, sparks joy in me and reaffirms- this is my purpose!