finding your place in God's story

we all spend our lives trying to figure out our purpose in life... who God made us to be and what He wants to do through us. i love that the intention of Ordinary Time is to "offer us the space to find our place in God's story." after all, the world does not revolve around me; it's His story. He is the center, the Author and the Hero, but He made us to play a role. 

it's this search for meaning and purpose that makes us human. a flower does not struggle with what color it's blossom should be or what shape to take- it has no choice but to be what the seed was designed to be. it would certainly be more simple if we had no choice. but then there would also be no freedom. and so God offers us choices... endless possibilities... and yet sometimes it feels like very few options. 

i believe God created us with all of our strengths and challenges, passions and skills to reflect His glory to a watching world. I also believe that the hardships and struggles we walk through shape us uniquely to extend His love to hurting people. and i believe that we have an enemy who exists to mar the image of God in us, and derail us from the purposes God created us to fulfill. 

as a result of that assault we hide, we put on a mask, we erect a wall or we take matters into our own hands. i have tried all of those survival strategies; they are exhausting. whether the mask is perfection or aggression, the wall is biting sarcasm or emotional distance, or you take things into your own hands by stubborn independence or people-pleasing... i would like to invite you to rest awhile. you don't have to try so hard and you don't have to do this alone. 

What's one thing you are good at? Hold on to that {and drop it in the comments} we will take a look at how to uncover our purpose next time.