A theme has presented itself to me in the last season. I’ve witnessed people filled with passion, driven mad. They can’t seem to lock fingers with their life’s “work.” They cannot discover their purpose. But Hope and Truth came to me and opened my eyes to see that our purpose will discover us.
It is once God faithfully prunes us of our own plans, ambitions, and timelines that true purpose begins to take shape. The talents he put in us since birth will find their canvas that he sovereignly stretches before us. His way holds a more fitting design than we could ever hope, dream, or imagine.
The art God will make out of you will be stunning- a true masterpiece. Surrendering your own plans for purpose in order to receive his will be the most important decision you’ll ever make.
“We will know we found our purpose when every aspect of who God made us to be begins to vibrate.”
Surrender is not lazy
God cannot fill a hand that is gripping its own agenda. Before He hands us a divine assignment, He takes us through a purifying process. He separates our identity from our activity.
In our natural state, we see our talents as a currency with which we can buy security, gain influence, and receive validation. Chasing those things instead of receiving them from God himself, is what the world does. This is not how God intended for us to use our gifts so He lovingly leads us into freedom from those forms of bondage.
He wisely and systematically dismantles each of those crutches. He allows our own plans to fail and our timelines to stretch so thin that our self-reliance eventually snaps.
Remove the impurities from the silver, and the smith has material to make a vessel.
Proverbs 25:4
This process feels like loss, but it is actually mercy. God prunes away all the things that would destroy us if we were given our purpose unprepared. He brings us to a place of powerlessness, like Israel in the desert, so that He becomes true provision. Surrender isn’t passive or lazy—it is the working out of our salvation. It is how we discover God’s infinite capacity, and the limits of our own.
Intentionally Unanswered Requests
God is brilliant. We often do not realize that if he were to pander to our poetically convincing prayers, requesting the things “we need” for the benefit of our purpose, he would be abandoning it completely.
It will be exactly like that for many of us. We will not have what we believe we need. God in his wisdom is withholding what he could provide in his generosity. It is in this place, we will be cornered into finding our truest, God-given purpose. We must remain open to God’s answer of provision in whatever form it may come. Let me explain…
Finding Mine
God did what He so faithfully does with passionate people: He brought me through “the wilderness.” One by one, my hopes, ambitions, and grand timelines were laid on the altar. I was brought to a place of total powerlessness where I learned God was my only source of provision.
It was in that place of surrender that my true purpose found me: my family.
I did not uncover this passion; this passion uncovered me. I am a Mother- both physically and spiritually.
My pre-wilderness self looked at this kind of “purpose” and saw a shrinkage of potential. Giving up grander destiny for a kitchen table seemed such a waste of talent. But as I surrendered my life over to this calling, something miraculous happened: I discovered I was fashioned for this task all along.
In being a mother, my writing gifts didn’t go stale; they were saturated with heavenly purpose. My teaching ability found its way to the “front of the classroom”, my creative ideas were given an unexpected platform inside my own home.
“Every talent I possessed found purpose as I surrendered to this life work.”
Motherhood didn’t bury my gifts; it resurrected them. And it is now, after having made it through the wilderness that I have a rock solid hope for my future. I believe God is going to use me in wild ways. I have a future beyond the kitchen sink. The difference is, my satisfaction isn’t in what God will eventually do with me, it is in that I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now.
Life is not about hearing the applause for your reaching purpose. Life manifests when Jesus is revealed. When you walk in your God-given purpose, anyone who gets near you will see, hear, touch, taste, smell, experience- the testimony of Jesus. That is the only thing that will satisfy a passionate person’s heart.
It’s a Journey
You will not be a master the moment you encounter your purpose. It’s taken me a decade to finally start using my writing and teaching gift in new ways. Im learning more truly, what it means to be a mother everyday. It’s going to take time. You will enjoy the process when your only ambition is Love.
Know this- the element of surrender will never leave you. Your God-given purpose will cause passion to flow like blood in your veins, but that doesn’t mean it will always feel natural. Our purpose will require odd adjustments which will be completely inconvenient and unnatural. But once you’ve been given over to it, you will not consider these things too much after long.
The Legacy List of Surrendered Lives
- Moses: Lead Israel out of bondage
- Joseph: Preserved the nation
- Hannah: Mothered Samuel
- David: Unified Israel
- Esther: Saved her nation
- Peter: Built the church
- Paul: Sent to Gentiles
- Mary: Birthed the savior
None of these human beings could have imagined how God would use them. Each of them endured a wilderness of some form and emerged with a capacity to walk in their purpose. God brought them faithfully, into their destiny, as he will you. You have no idea how God will use you, but I promise he will. Our anchor is that “not our will, but His be done.” Indeed, he has a will for you, he didn’t make you to waste you. Surrender is your key into your purpose, as it was for all of them.
Let It Happen
We don’t choose our purpose, God leads us into it.
If you find yourself today in a season of frustration—if your prayers seem ignored, resources are tight, or if your plans continue to crumble— you have not missed your path. You have been allured into the wilderness.
Stop treating your purpose like prey and chasing broken cisterns. These methods demand everything from you, but will never lead you to your true destiny.
The purpose meant for your life will not be captured through ambition. It will find you when you are finally surrendered enough to receive it and free enough to carry it.
Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Make me live by your way.
Psalm 119:37
Let your ideas of what your purpose should be die. Embrace the discomfort of where you find yourself now. Surrender to your current season. When you reach the absolute end of yourself, look up. Something is about to peek its head out. And when it does, you won’t need to hunt it down—it will come to you, anointing will cover your head, and you will realize who you were made to be all along.
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