Purpose.

I think that our purpose, especially for us women, too often gets wrapped up in marriage and meeting the 'right' guy.

I know I've felt like that a lot in life. It was okay to leave high school single, because the plan was always to meet that guy and get married right after college. Then I wouldn't have to worry about what I actually wanted to do with my life, then I wouldn't have to worry about what the Lord was calling me to, because I could just support whatever it was He was calling my husband to. When senior year rolled around, I realized it was too late for that to happen and needed to figure out what I wanted.

But, I wonder if I've just been delaying what I've wanted for so long because I've still been waiting for that guy to come around before I decided to truly start living. Sometimes we're so consumed with this thought that we plan our lives around an idea, failing to register that perhaps there's a different purpose for us.

We're so content to just wait for our soul mate to show up, that we dictate our decisions and our life plans on this hope. We'll make decisions on where to go to school, what job to take, what ministry to be involved in, what events to show up at... all in hopes that we will ...oops! just run into the love of our life. Sometimes we're scared to move forward in something we want because we fear missing out on love.

What if, instead of trying to plan our lives according to what perfect specimen we might run into, we actually figured out what our own passions are? What if we figured out our own gifts, our own desires, our own hopes and dreams (beyond marriage) and were obedient to truly serve the Lord with those things?

What if we stopped waiting for someone to partner with us and journey with us, and decided to venture out into the unknown by ourselves--truly trusting the Lord to take care of us?

I guess I think there's more than love and romance--I think life is about more than that. While, sure, I know that it can be a beautiful, refining thing...I also know that even in marriage, we will soon feel purposeless if that was our end goal.

Today I urge you to pray about your purpose. To pray about your hopes and dreams--that if you don't know what they are, that you would soon develop some.

Today I urge you to ask yourself some honest, hard questions: are you, even if it's somewhere in the back of your mind, planning your life around your future husband (that perhaps you haven't even met yet)? Are you putting your future on hold because you're hoping so desperately that the 'right' guy will show up, that he'll propose, that he'll make the decisions for what's next for you?

Run the race to honor the Lord, above all else.
Believe that He has bestowed you with purpose and passion and given you what you need to walk fully in them. Let us not be afraid to go it alone, let us not be afraid to live boldly in a different plan for our lives.

Different... but will we allow ourselves to believe that it is, in fact, better?

* * *

Submit Your Stories/Questions/Struggles Here

Your entries will remain anonymous