Learn Humbly: Finding Your Direction March 8, 2010

Learn Humbly:

Finding Your Direction

March 8, 2010

One Month to Live

30 days to a no-regrets Life

by Kerry and Chris Shook.

Principle 1: Live Passionately, Living each day as if it were your last.

Principle 2: Love Completely, showing others love that transcends and transforms.

Principle 3: Learn Humbly, growing through your problems and pain

Principle 4: Leave Boldly, Creating a legacy that will impact generations

Day 17, March 8, 2010—Finding Your Direction

“The Place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” —Frederick Buechner

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’” –Erma Bombeck

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 1 Corinthians 12:4-5 NRSV

He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 NRSV

A GPS device is great for driving directions. It can help you find the fastest route to your destination. However, if there are tall buildings, sometime you can lose the signal and get lost quickly.  Your GPS needs a clear signal from satellites to find its position and steer us to our destination. In life we need a clear signal from God so we can discover our position and place in the world. Until we discover our place, our niche, our purpose in life, we’ll always feel lost, even when surrounded by a crowd.

When was the last time you were driving and became lost? What’s your usual response when feeling lost, whether on the highway or in the circumstances of your life? Where do you turn for direction?

A Galaxy of Gifts

If we’re going to find our way through the many circumstances and choices of life, we must be willing to use three crucial resources: Our Gifts, Our Passions, and Our Struggles.

God has given all of us unique abilities and talents.  Often we tend to compare ourselves to others and become discouraged because we focus on what we don’t have or can’t do as well as others.

Ask yourself: What do I do well?  How effectively do I use that gift?

God Within: Our Passions

We will find our place and purpose in life when we discover our passion. Paul wrote in Romans: “Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically” 12:11 NLT. The word “Enthusiastically” comes from two Greek words meaning “God within”. Enthusiasm and passion come from God within us. God has places the passions of my life deep inside me for a reason: He wants me to pursue those passions.

When was the last time you felt passionate about an experience? What were the circumstances? What gifts did you sue? What does this experience tell you about your purpose in life?

Total Eclipse: Our Struggles

When we are living through struggles, problems and difficulties, we learn to depend upon God. We learn our own limits and how we need God’s power and strength to help us through the tough times.

God uses our wounds to make us stronger and to help those around us. He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 NRSV

God can take my struggles and turn them into stars that shines of God’s glory. The problem is that often we’re eclipsed by others’ expectations. We conform. We people please. We strive for approval and settle for the path of least resistance rather than the abundant life off fulfilling our God-given destiny.

God has equipped us with His GPS,  that allows us to avoid the detours and dead ends of the conformity traps of life. You can be who God made you to be. This Lent allow God to guide you into others lives and let your passions shine.

Prayer: God you daily give me directions, if I would only listen. Help me to be open to your guidance. Allow me to find my passion and purpose.  Stir the passions and empower me to risk living an abundant life. Help me accept my struggles as ways to jar me from my conformity to the world’s ways and to your transformation of my life. Amen.