Common Questions

One question I have heard frequently from people discerning their relationship with God is the one about purpose. I've even asked it. I heard that we are all born with a purpose. But, what was my purpose?
I suppose I expected it to fall out of the sky written on a really big rock and crush me to death with the impact of it. That, thankfully, never happened. But don't we expect that? Bells and whistles, some phenomenal thing to happen and then we can say "Aha! That's it!". No, it does not happen that way. Well, maybe for a few it does. But the majority of us, we get a deafening silence.
I am almost 40 years old and now I think that I know why. I could be wrong. I have been before. But I believe that God is leaving it up to us.
You see, our one, great purpose is one we ALL share. No matter who you are you have the same purpose as I.
It is to love and worship your creator. He has revealed Himself so you know who He is.
No questions there now. I missed that one for a long time and now it seems impossible to miss. (It is actually easy to miss when you are whining about all this suffering you have to do down here...take it from one who did all the whining in the world.)
But what about the big stuff? What about the "God wants me to go to China!" and the "I'm going to the rainforest!" people? How do they know God wants them to go? They just know.
You see, I read once that when God has a job he wants done, he does not send someone from Heaven in a big flash and bang kind of way. That's not His style. What He does is bless two people who with a small child and I believe that he plants the plan in the heart of the mother whether she is fully aware or not. Fully aware or not, she will be fully prepared and led by God to raise that child to develop his/her sense of purpose. (Just another reason I hate abortion so much.)
The child will certainly have inclinations toward his/her purpose.
If you are the one 'not getting that'. Cheer up. There is prayer and worship. And those two things can keep you busy a long time.
And don't despair if you get that deafening silence. Just do what you do. Pick something. You've got talents. You know that thing you've been drawn to, that's where you can start. It was drawing for me. Other artistic pursuits followed. You know what I should have done? Maybe gone down to homeless place (Community Kitchen, here) and just sat and painted with the kids that weren't in school that day because mom was on the street and they went with her. Maybe I could have used my skills to do beautiful paintings for old people at the nursing homes. There were many options for me to choose from. I did nothing. I whined and cried about how I couldn't take this suffering and would God please make it easier for me. Yeah. That's what I did.
But maybe God leaves it up to us. And maybe after you have proven that you are going to use the talents he gave you for His purpose, then He will give you the big job.
So, if you build houses, build them for God. If you paint, use it to help ease the suffering of others if only temporarily. If you write, use it to help others somehow instead of just for your own entertainment or bank account. If you sew, wow, the things you could do!
I wrote this just to encourage people. Because I know a lot of people who wander through life wanting to find their purpose and they never seem to get there. Nike says it best, 'Just do it'...whatever you do. And like the Isley Brothers, "It's your thing, do what you wanna do". But do it for God. And He will take it from there.
Yeah, these are the things I wake up with.