What gets me up in the morning?
What am I marked for? For what is my heart undivided (Psalm 89)?
It's not something that I've been doing on this blog in the past, but today I'd love to share something that's been stirring in my heart...
Chris Cain, a wise woman and a mighty leader said that "ambition drives you like an addiction, but destiny draws you". Destiny will always find its place, but ambition always seeks a position. Amen for perspective.
So then for me, I am marked. I have been placed.
Purpose has puzzled me for a while. We're all searching for it, are we not? What gets us up in the morning? What is the special thing that overrides the mundane, the everyday, and that sees beyond the horizon line? I had a revelation today about mine.
As a class, we've been encouraged to reflect on our core values and we have been asked to begin to come up with a mission statement & vision for our lives. Beginning with the end in mind and working backward, we've been urged to pray and think about what we were born for. As an exercise in class, we were given just a couple minutes to get the ball rolling and to reflect on the things that we love, the things we are passionate about, and the things that convict us. Beyond just the things we place as core values, we're asked to think about how our core values are shown and why they exist in our mission statements.
Nonchalantly, and not expecting to get very far, I began to examine the things that I know to be true about myself. Things like: I love fellowship and community, I was placed to be an encourager, music is important to me, I'm passionate about people finding and working out their God-given potential, etcetera etcetera etcetera... Before I knew it, our time was up. Some people began to share the things they put in their vision statements, but feeling prompted, I continued to search deeper and deeper into the wirings of my heart. I got to a point where the ideas were flowing and yet the pen was frozen to the paper. Frustrating. Then with a draft not quite right and a little tweak later... there it was. My mission statement. My purpose beyond my position. My lifesong. My God-breathed reason to get up in the morning. Moved to tears, I read aloud;
To love God and to love His Church.
To live a life built on His Word,
after His own heart.
Striving; Gone. Anxiety; Gone. Apprehension; Gone.
Like a ton of bricks falling from my shoulders to the feet of Jesus, I felt so relieved and awakened. Fully aware and fully awake. I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I was in the God's presence where He revealed a little more of His big picture to me.
The memory fresh in my mind is continually revealing more and more truth beneath that mission statement and I thank God for the ways that He continues to grow and affirm me. In Jesus's name, the limiting beliefs that I placed on my purpose are breaking and the truths from His Word in my heart are sharpening me to be bold in my new conviction.
The deepest comfort that I feel regarding this (which in reality regards everything) is the understanding that my purpose doesn't have to do with my position. Instead, wherever I'm placed (whether it's tomorrow, 5 years from now, 50 years from now), that mission statement will still be true. My life will still reflect my love for God and for His Church and a life built on His Word after His own heart.
With this, whatever got me out of bed this morning was definitely less substantial than what gets me out of bed tomorrow and for the rest of my days. I praise the Lord for that.
-Brittany
