And then this happened.

One of the elements of discovering your unique purpose is that of 'your child's play' - 'What did you like to do or play as a child, that just came naturally?' >before someone told you it was dumb. Me? I liked to play school. By myself, in the basement of our old Colonial Revival home in Alameda, California, I would set my dolls in high chairs and teach them about Jesus. Long before there was PowerPoint, there was the flannel graph board; I would move the paper doll-like figures of Jesus, animals and the disciples around on the board, telling one story after another to my dolls.

Since my dad discouraged me from becoming a teacher, I went a different direction in college, but some years later I got my teaching credential and taught school. And while I cannot remember what first pointed me down the road on the subject of purpose, I remember my aha moment in realizing the focus of my own. In about 2004, I was teaching a large group on the life cycle of the soul,1 and as always, I was expressively gesturing as I spoke, my right hand in the air, and the thought came like lightning, 'this is what I was meant to do!' Oh not just the speaking, of course, but first the discovery and working through to understanding and application the glorious truths from my precious Bible!

Over many years now, I have taught the living truth of Scripture to children, homeless street people, high school athletes, corporate guys, church congregations, and many many women--at beach settings, in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, (pictured), around the Sea of Galilee, on weekly internet livestreams and in Philippi too! In Summer 2008, I began writing these Morning Briefings.

Child's play, hmmm yes. While I have not seen have not seen this woman in many years, the story of her childhood interest and later purpose was at once bizarre and also fascinating. In 2009, in a backyard Bible study, I was talking about these curiosities of ours as possible way-pointers to our unique purpose. First I heard the gasp, her hand flying to her mouth in shock, so I turned and said, 'Something just came to mind that gripped you - would you be willing to share it with us?' And. she. did. When she was a young girl, Pam was keenly interested in the human ear. She studied and learned the parts and taught her young niece about the ear as well. When Pam married and had children, she gave birth to two deaf sons... and vocationally, she was a sign language interpreter for the court system. Hence the gasp. Think about the intentionality of a loving God and purpose.

The subject of discovering and living out one's purpose is an important one - one that is meant to be lived at every phase of life.  In the last Morning Briefing, https://conta.cc/4qCyXeF, I gave you a spreadsheet (see photo below) that covered several areas in your life, including the following to help you see how God has shaped and influenced your life for a unique purpose, one that might guide daily choices/priorities: 

>What battles have you fought?  Storms weathered ~ Joseph: Genesis 37-50                                                                                                                                                                                                        

>Defining Moments ~      

>Disciplines practiced  ~ 

>Current struggles ~   

While I could speak to all of the arenas on the Purpose spreadsheet, I want to encourage you that with God, nothing is wasted. I remember the day in a Target parking lot a heartbroken woman approached me for some kind of comfort and hope; she wanted prayer. You see, she had just discovered her daughter was a drug addict, and just then, I saw how I was uniquely suited to comfort her as I too knew the raw heartache of addiction in one of my children. With God, nothing is wasted, and yes, I could pray for her and give her hope.

Experiencing heartache or brokenness does not disqualify us in any way; on the contrary, it is often from our struggle that we can encourage someone else. For many a person, heartache galvanized them into action to serve others in a related manner, like the parents of a son who had done prison time who now serve in prison ministry because they 'get it' and 'have a heart' to make a difference. Do you see it?

And then God forbid you were abused as a child . . . if so, I am so sorry for your heartache and pain. But hear me now - if you were, God can heal the mark on your soul; yes, I know something about that too. And who better to recognize and then lend the healing balm of Jesus Christ to another, carrying her to God to heal from her heartache than one who has been there?

Sometimes in life, it is a redirect that moves us in a new direction or avenue where we can effectively serve in a way we would have never anticipated. Casting our gaze back to the New Testament book of Acts, which we began walking through a few months ago, I take you to the man, Paul. We first know him as a highly respected Jew, a proud Pharisee, intent on stomping out the new offshoot of faith started by the Nazarene, Jesus, being spread like a contagion through his followers. That is, until ... God got Paul's attention and redirected him with a unique purpose that only he could fulfill. Blinded, so he could see: https://conta.cc/41s3VLy.

When Michelangelo began to carve a huge and shapeless block of marble, he said that his aim was to release the angel imprisoned in the stone.  I love that.  In many ways, that is how the apostle Paul looked at men …he saw what they could be if they surrendered themselves to Christ.2 It is how God always sees us - he alone knows our true potential.

Radically transformed and forever changed by the Savior, Jesus Christ, Paul saw himself as an instrument in the hand of God. And because of that, he laid his ‘all’ on the altar … whatever else he might have done, whoever else he might have been, whatever expectations his Jewish lineage might have had for him, he was fully devoted to Jesus Christ.  And so, when God chose to use him, he was ready. 

Paul was an instrument in the hand of God. Compelling. Attractive to me for sure.

The change in the life of D. L. Moody came when he heard a preacher say:  “If only one man would give himself entirely and without reserve to the Holy Spirit, what that Spirit might do with him!”  Moody said to himself, “Why should I not be that man?”  Moody's spiritual legacy is renowned as an instrument in the hand of God.3

Paul – an instrument in the hand of God.  

Moody – a more recent instrument in the hand of God.  

How about you? 

 How about me?  

‘Instruments in the hand of God? 

O God, show us how to be used of you,

fulfilling the life of purpose you have for us--one so meaningful and adventurous!

Every day, Lord, even in small choices, remind us to live each day with these priorities:

to love you with our hearts, souls, mind and strength, and to

love our neighbors as ourselves.4 Give us the desire to serve. Amen!

This song, oh this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0gH0E7OTuE&list=RDv0gH0E7OTuE&a.... Only God.

On purpose,

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1  fascinated by the notion that our souls are nurtured and trained by our caregivers in our young years--often, our mamas, but not always. But in adulthood, it is we who are the gatekeepers to the formation of our souls--what do we feed them? How do we train them? And again, it is our Creator God who is meant to lead and influence us

2 William Barclay, Romans

3 ibid

4 Mark 12.30-31