Knowing you’re losing your job in 8 months, along with your health care and consistent stream of generous income; knowing you will have to leave your friends and family for 11 months; knowing that all your possessions will be stripped down to what you can fit in two backpacks; not knowing how you’ll get the money you need to survive; these are all reasons why someone wouldn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. But I find these are the very things that wake me up before my alarm in the morning and give me a joy and a drive to live!
Therein lies the paradox and the enemy often covers up the truth. The truth is, there’s a joy and a peace in not living for you!
I always knew God was calling me into missions work somehow and someway. I would always run away from opportunities or make excuses about why it wasn’t possible. All it got me was a feeling of purposelessness (Is that a word? It feels right and wrong at the same time. Oh well, I’m using it). Finally I decided to follow God no matter what it meant or what it would cost me. I sought him about my passions that were lying dormant and asked him to spark new life in them. He did. The World Race brings me face to face with so many unknowns and so many consequences but there’s nothing more I would ever choose to do. It gets me out of bed in the morning full of joy, knowing I’m following God and doing the very thing he’s created me to do; the very thing he has given me a passion to do. There are hard times for sure. After all, I’m a human living in a broken world that is waiting for the completion found in Jesus! But until then, it’s the passion of the dream that fuels the energy to continue to move forward!
Purpose.
Isn’t that what we all desire?
In Christ, we have everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We have all we need for purpose in this life. What we need to do is prayerfully seek God and find out how this fits into the context of where we are and what we do. It doesn’t have to be a career change. Maybe it’s something as simple as God transforming the way you see your coworkers or how you see your mission of love at your workplace. Maybe it is extreme. Maybe God is calling you to quit your job and do something else. Maybe you just need a God-given passion and cause to pour your time, money, and energy into for God’s glory. Whatever it is, remain faithful and prayerfully lay it down at His feet.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive!” – Howard Thurman
For additional reading, consider going through Donald Miller’s “Storyline” with a friend or small group. It’s about finding your subplot in God’s story; the greatest story ever told!
