Ever wonder why you are on the planet?
Have you ever wondered why you breathe? Have you ever had that depressed, discouraged, “Oh, why am I even bothering?” hopeless-style response to life’s circumstances?
If you have served Him in ministry for a while, struggle with depression, or worse, both, you know what I’m talking about.
I have talked with a LOT of Christian leaders who are “somebody,” and the two things they all have in common is this: the pit is REAL, and it is common. The second thing they say is this: it can’t be talked about with many people.
So maybe you aren’t even leading in ministry yet, but you sense a call – and you know what I’m talking about with the pit.
It’s that dark place that makes you forget why you breathe, why you even try. It’s cured by Truth, and the reminder of the motivation of why you were created, what He placed you here to do… and last night, as I was driving back from a meeting, sweating a few bullets because I have a huge deadline tomorrow that I’m concerned about – I happened to land HERE. I realized that it tied into everything we’re talking about today – the thing I asked you to get ready for on Monday. Yeah, it’s about middle schoolers – but that is okay – it still applies to all of us – no matter what age we are.
If you haven’t done that assessment on Monday yet, go back.
And as you fight and struggle your way through this exercise today, can I ask you to consider this? It’s an audio from yesterday’s Focus on the Family broadcast – one I just “happened” to be listening to on the drive back last night, and it totally ties into today’s topic of VISION.
The FoF broadcast is about helping your middle schoolers – BUT – but… it’s mainly about understanding why you are here – having a sense of purpose.
The Bible tells us we are here to glorify God.
We are created specifically, intentionally, with purpose, to glorify Him in a special way.
That is the purpose of our life.
So I ask you…
Do you know what your purpose is?
Of course you do – I just gave you the answer. 🙂 It’s to glorify God.
But do you have a vision for your life? Has He revealed to you just HOW that’s going to happen?
There’s ways we all glorify Him, but there’s ways that only we, in our wiring, can bring Him glory.
Like there’s tons of scales that we can all sing, there’s also just certain songs that we (if wired musically to do so) might write. So our lifesong is to sing to Him… in the way He designed.
And today, your dare is simple. Maybe not so easy, but simple:
- Listen to the FoF broadcast.
- Go back to your assessment from Monday.
- Think about your strengths – the things you are good at and that are good about you.
- Listen to the song. I love to sing it as a prayer of worship back to Him.
- Then in prayer, write a vision for your life. Include all the good, and the things you want to be different – but write in the present tense. As if it were already true. 🙂 Start with the phrase, “I am a person who… ” and avoid negative words like “don’t” and “never” and instead paint the picture of what you DO want – not what you want to avoid.
- Double dog dare you to share it here in the comments. 🙂
- And Monday, I’ll tell you what to do with that. 🙂 You’ll be blown away.
Love to you,
Nina
What is YOUR vision? Dare you to share below! 🙂
I am so blessed, informed, educated, encouraged/uplifted and helped by your blogs. And thank you for your prayers which are much like my own. God ministers to me through you. I am thankful for you.
I am a grateful woman who has a living relationship with God that overflows onto/into the people in my life. I am not afraid of conflict but speak the truth in love, I listen and encourage my loved ones, but realize that I am not responsible for their happiness and that God is in control and working in their lives just as he is in mine. I am not threatened or a failure because they struggle.
You know it is funny, I know that lifesong song became popular on the radio, but I much prefer this song off of the same album and sang it in church several times. It has the same theme:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for making me the person I so want to be. I am a person who strives to please you and has a wonderful realationship with you speaking daily and spending quality time, not just going through the motions. I love that I have learned how to be a respectful wife and mother to my children who is able to communicate with others in a way that is loving and that they can hear and take to heart knowing that they are always loved and respected by me. Thank you that I have become a woman who can speak clearly and to the point. Most importantly, thank you that I have become a person who is able to hear the criticism of others and to take it as a learning tool and not as a personal attack. I am so glad that I am able to learn and grow every day no matter how big or small the issue. Also father, thank you for letting me totally honest and put my trust in you. It is so hard to have trust in other humans, but I know you are faithful no matter what. All I have to do is get out of your way! Thank you that everything is meant for my good. And one more! Thank you for helping me to become a person who is able to say NO in a loving way, and to not have the guilt or shame about the other person feeling bad from my refusal.
AMEN