Discovering God’s Purpose for You

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14 NIV

The YES Adventure is a journey of discovery—self-discovery. But it’s more than just discovering yourself. It’s about discovering the plans that God has for you. It’s about exploring who you are and how you are made. Your personal makeup—personality, gifts and talents, the deep desires that seem to be a part of the fabric of who you are—are all clues in the discovery process.

So, let’s take some time now to explore those deep-seated desires. Like silver threads woven into a blanket, those desires add sparkle, depth, and dimension to your life. Let’s explore what you really want. Clues to God’s purpose for you are woven into your desires.

Whose Dream

If you could do anything, what would it be? Perhaps you have never really articulated that before. Yet, there is something deep inside that calls your name. From the back of the dark cave called the future, the voice whispers loudly to you. “This is what you want. This is where you want to go.”

As I look back on my life, writing has always been there. For school projects, I would often choose writing rather than other forms of expression.

In the seventh grade, we studied the American Revolution. One of the projects to choose was to create a diary of a soldier at Valley Forge. That was my project. Even at that young age, the thought of writing rather than building something was much more appealing. I still have that project in a scrapbook. I spent the time researching conditions at Valley Forge and got a sense of what life was like. I wrote out the entries and creatively organized the information. I found old, yellowed paper with no lines on it. Perfect! I sewed it with thread for binding.

All the effort to create an environment through the words and the presentation was just a vehicle for carrying the information I had studied into words on a page. I enjoyed getting inside the character’s head and writing his words on the yellowed pages.

In high school, I discovered creative writing. We had the opportunity to choose different classes and the Creative Writing elective literally changed my life. The curriculum required keeping a journal of observations and thoughts. I had never thought of keeping a journal before. The journal became my lifeline. The journal became the place where I could express the feelings that couldn’t be talked about with others. I didn’t have anyone to listen to me. My journal became a place to process my fears, doubts, hurts, and questions.

Later, when Jesus became the center of my life, my journal became a place of prayer and study. I still keep a journal. It may not be the lifeline it once was, but it is a place to capture important thoughts, feelings, heartfelt prayers, and the whispers of God. Do you keep a journal?

I discovered that God made me to write words through that creative writing course. Writing words that carry emotions and ideas has been a part of my life since then. Recognizing the place of writing in my past has been part of discovering how I am made and uncovering His design for my future. That discovery led to the book you are reading now. This is part of my MORE. There is more for you, too, my friend.

Writing was not consciously my dream early on. Writing was just there. An undercurrent. A silver thread. Recognizing the sparkle of that thread helped me to discover God’s dream for me. I know without a doubt that writing is not just my dream. It is God’s dream for me. He designed me with words woven into my being. He made me to create. Words on a page, words in a message. Words are woven into me.

What is woven into you, my friend? Have you taken the time to discover the silver threads in your makeup? When you look back over your life, what are the dreams, gifts, and talents that recur? Those are your clues. The things that you have always enjoyed doing. The projects that seem to repeat in your life. The desires that never go away. Those are part of God’s dream for you.

 Excerpt from The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word by Cathleen Zahradnik. Check it out here.

The MORE You Were Meant For

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future“ (Jeremiah 29:11).

My YES adventure began with my first YES to God. At sixteen years old, I sat on my bed reading a small pamphlet a friend had given me. The final paragraph asked if I would like a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. A personal relationship with Jesus? I’d never heard of such a thing! Everything in me said, “YES, that’s exactly what I want!” I prayed the prayer, signed the tract in the space provided, and put it in my wallet because that is where I put things I didn’t want to lose. I didn’t realize that YES had begun to change my life.

It wasn’t until a few years later that my YES became complete. I was a junior in college, walking home to my rented room at 16 Oak Street in Geneseo, New York. The cold January night echoed the darkness that had clouded around me for the previous months. I had never felt so lost and confused. In reality, the situation that had triggered the darkness was minor. But it had become the major impetus for all my emotions. Friends had encouraged me to speak with a school counselor, but I maintained, “I should be able to handle my own problems.”

That night, a random, startling thought shook me to the reality that I was not able. I stood at a crosswalk on Main Street as a car approached.

“What would happen if I threw myself out in front of that car?”

Shock and fear gripped me as the car sped by. What if I had acted on that thought? Where had it come from? What did I need to do to escape that kind of darkness? I hurried home, unlocked the door, ran upstairs to my room, and knelt by my bed. “God, I can’t do it by myself anymore. I need you to help me!”

I don’t remember all I prayed, but the next day, I made an appointment with the school counselor. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, that night, I fully surrendered to God. He had my big YES. That was the day my adventure truly started and transformation began. That was the day I began to discover the more I was meant for.

What makes your heart soar? I mean really soar. That thing that makes you want to shout at the top of your lungs and burst with joy. Maybe you haven’t quite discovered what that is yet, but it is in there. God put it inside you even before you were born, and He wants to help you discover what that is. Maybe that is part of what you will get out of this book. I hope so. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were created with a purpose that will fill your heart with an exhilarating song that lifts you to hang-gliding heights. Really!

God has made each of us with an “adventure quotient.” What do I mean by that? Your adventure quotient is what makes your heart beat faster and feel like you are doing the most exciting and fulfilling thing in the world. That adventure quotient is different for each of us, but each of us has it. The key for you and me is to find it. You were made for adventure. You were! But don’t expect your adventure to look like someone else’s. Your adventure is uniquely your own.

 

Excerpt from The YES Adventure: Transform Your Life with One Word by Cathleen Zahradnik. Check it out here.