Questions in my Head
I’ve been questioning my purpose left and right lately. Left with the future and right with the daily. With two and a half months left on the race people have been asking “so what’re you gonna do next?”. Then our month here in Georgia is ATL (ATL stands for Ask The Lord which is what we’ve been doing).
I Love Direction
Not being partnered with a local ministry host has been hard for me. I like clear direction and I love a paper list of expectations or objectives. I’ve kinda always struggled with seeking and relying on direction straight from the Lord. That’s not 100% correct.
I Hate Direction
I struggle with committing to a directive. Because our society tells us to find our passionthat will lead us to our purposein life. Your life’s purpose. Woah heavy. Sounds permanent doesn’t it? It feels like if I pick one path or direction I can never change direction or course. I mean your life’s purpose is HUGE. Have you ever read The Bell Jar? I think Sylvia Plath describes this idea best in there where she said:
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. …. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Thinking this way can be paralyzing to someone like me. But what if we looked at purpose as more of a fluid thing. Our steadfast passion as children of God is to make His name known and love his people. But our purpose can be found in different places or doing different things day by day, month by month, year by year. God can call you to a purpose today entirely different from what He called you to 10 years ago.
Sneak Peek into This Month
Anyways all that ramblyness to say that these last couple months of ATL have been stretching for me, but good all the same. My new team Splash started out the month in Tbilisi. We quickly felt led to the small town of Kobuleti on the coast of the Black Sea. From there we looked to create a routine of sorts. Offering some consistency for us (bless! With 9 months of constant change) and to the people we wish to minister to. We took it to god in prayer while also looking at our hearts and things we were passionate about. After all the Lord created us and gave us these desires for his purposes.
So everyday we come together to worship and pray for the day.
Then we have lunch McDoner’s. They sit down with us and we spend a few hours talking and getting to know them.
After that we head somewhere on the beach or a public park to worship! Singing songs of praise openly.
Beach cleanup comes next. We walk up and down the shore picking up trash.
To finish up our days we go to the park where we play soccer, volleyball or just talk and hang out with the kiddos.
At night we get to hang out with the local family we share a house with.
It’s been really sweet to make connections with the people we’ve met here. And all the while striving to be a light, and share the love of Christ.
Spoilers for Next Month
Only one more week here in Georgia before we leave for Romania. Spoiler: we WILL be with a ministry partner there!
Spoilers for Next Next Month
Then for our final month we will be in Spain! Spoiler: our squad will be doing the Camino, a famous, rural walking trail for christian pilgrims that attracts people from all over the world searching for a deeper meaning in life. Each day we will wake up and simply walk as we make friends with fellow travelers, and find ourselves sharing stories about our year of ministry and all about our faith and hope in Jesus. The Camino offers incredible opportunities to minister to people of all walks of life as we journey together toward a shared goal. I will have lots of time to process the year before heading home and ending this incredible 11-month journey
