I have been on a journey to discover my purpose, mission, gifts and talents. I was so afraid I had wasted my life and the grief at times felt overwhelming. It became critical to me to figure it out sooner then later, because if I had wasted my life I wanted as much time as possible to begin the work it would take. What if I had missed it completely? Would I be able to make up for loss time?
I am thrilled to tell you the Lord has revealed to me both my purpose and my mission. The day I discovered it I became more and more excited. I had not wasted my life! What a relief! The moments of what felt like failure and the times of success have both been part of his process to get me to where I am today. Do not get me wrong there is still more digging, molding, polishing and work to be done in my life, but hallelujah my purpose sets me free from my mission. My purpose and my mission enhance each other, but my beginning and end begin with my purpose.
My purpose is to honor and glorify God. The end. I was going to put to honor and glorify God in my actions and my words, but the truth is I glorify God because I am created by him. No one can take it away from me. Through my relationship with Jesus Christ I have access to the throne of God. I can approach him any time I want to and be in relationship with him. My salvation is secure.
Romans 8:38-39 New International Version (NIV)
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I did not want to put a clause in my purpose that an action was required, because the only action required of me was to accept Jesus Christ as my savior. My salvation is not depended on anything I do or say not matter how holy it sounds. I am only the vessel God uses to bring others to Jesus.
My mission is the thing I am put on the earth to accomplish. It is something specific in this time and place God wants to do through me. Yet, event this is not what saves me. Putting my mission, gifts and talents into action are an outward expression of my love for God the Father, Jesus my Savior and the Holy Spirit my wisdom giver, but they do not save me. It does not matter how big my successes are or how big I blow it. He wants me to be humble in my success, but also wants me to live out that I am as worth while and loved in the pit as I am in the well done moments.
My life and any work I do begins with my purpose. I honor and glorify God by simply being his creation and I am his child set free by the blood of Jesus.
Genesis 1:28-31
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.