The Truth about Purpose

Recently I was talking to someone about purpose explaining to them about what it really looks like. We can market to death almost anything these days but the truth is purpose is not merely a destination. It is true that the Lord will often have very specific things He calls us to; it is also true that He may reveal a particular something He has purposed you to build and implement. While those things are all true we miss the real movement of God, and the essence of how God works in our lives when we skip to the destination. Purpose requires clarity, courage and commitment on the journey, more than hyper focus on the destination.

I’ll give you an example in my own life. I spent twenty-years in a successful corporate career in the surgical and healthcare industry. One day out of nowhere that twenty-year career came to an end. Shortly after that, my entire life was turned upside down again when I returned home to care for my mother. There was no warning in either situation. Twenty-years prior, deep in the earlier successes of my career I went before the Lord in a time of fasting and prayer over this very subject. I said Lord, “show me why I’m here, and what I am called to do. What is it Lord that you had in mind for me to accomplish when I was born? How am I to make an impact in people’s lives? The short of that story is within a period of weeks God spoke through my circumstances. It was a supernatural move of God I never imagined. In fact what he showed me I almost rejected.

Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you & teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you

Here's my point, after the Lord revealed this to me, I decided to take matters in my own hands to make it come to fruition – none of it happened. Everything I was trying to accomplish was ahead of schedule. At one point I thought clearly I’ve been mistaken. I’m doing everything I know to do and nothing is clicking. Ten years passed, I had tremendous successes in my corporate career, even tried to go to seminary while I was working and traveling (which didn’t work). After all that time, then my exit from corporate, then Alzheimer’s interrupting our lives, then back home to New Orleans. On the surface I had so many moments and intersections of disappointment and feeling off course.

In my soul health™practice, purpose (no matter the age) is of the most common struggles I'm asked about. I've learned how divinely meaningful life intersections are, and how important obedience is to the process. Listen to this very carefully, it’s the intersections that call us to great sacrifice and discomfort (whether planned or unplanned) that become the most potent to purpose. Divine purpose is more like weaving threads of your life together. Purpose unfolds. It’s not sexy, but it is the honest Christ-Centered answer. Seek God, put His will above your own, take one step at time, commit to what He asks of you right now, and entrust it all to His perfect will and timing.