Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Find your Purpose then Loose Yourself

Hello again! It has been a minute since my last blog! First, I hope you are all well and enjoying blessings daily. While doing some preparation today, I ran across some material and did some thinking...result
NEW BLOG POST! 
Hope you Enjoy!

I feel so blessed to witness God working every day I awaken. It is amazing the things that have been opened to me since embracing the freedom only my Creator can give. Recently, Pastor Jason has began leading our church in a message on Legacy. With the passion I carry for leadership, I am ULTRA excited about this series. I literally count down to Sunday. This, partnered today with my passion, as I was asked to do some leadership training again. Oh, how I miss leadership training. 

While I was doing some research to prepare for the next couple of weeks in secular business, I was revived. I could feel the energy in my hands as I wrote agendas for the training, set goals on what we wanted to accomplish, identified obstacles we may encounter. Even thinking about it, I get butterflies. However, today was different. While preparing the training today, I noticed that I pulled quite a bit of the information from notes I had written in church on Sunday! And that my friends, is the conception of this blog!

Tonight, I want to pose to you a challenge.
 It's not directly from me. It is found within the depths of all of you. It most definitely was in me. It is the motivation to move forward. It is the question that keeps us up at night. It is the quest that often times is never finished. In it's absence, it is the cause of harmful choices. It is the challenge to:
 Find Your Purpose

We have heard of this. It is nothing new. However, I promise you the challenge does not end there. I also challenge you to:
Loose Yourself

 We are all created with Purpose. We were deliberately created. We are not the result of some random explosion. We were made by a divine Creator and Savior, and He has distinct plans for you! (Jeremiah: 29:11)

I know what you are thinking. "Ok, if I was created with a purpose, how do I find it?" 

What are you Passionate about? 

Passion is the great energizer. Most often in life, passion links with Purpose. Passion always stands out and sets you apart from the crowd. Passion breeds hope. When things seem impossible, it is the very core of what will keep you going. We were never promised living out our purpose will be easy. Eventually you will need the energy produced to take the extra step, step out of your comfort zone, walk deeper into the ocean. 

What are you Good at? 

What are your strengths? What Gifts do you have? God gave you gifts. When you find them, you will be good at them. You will be energized by them. You will have the Opportunity to use them, and create the capacity to develop them. 

This reminds me of something I teach leaders regarding Positioning people. It is called the Quadrant of Doing Theory. This theory encourages people to find their quadrant of doing, which is made up of what one likes to do and what he/she is good at. This is success. 

When I think of success and finding purpose, I can't help but then to ask myself, "What is the difference between success and significance?"  Honestly, there was once a time when I didn't feel there was a difference. But today it was so clearly revealed to me.

Success adds Value to Ones Self, Significance adds Value to Others.

There are very few people I have came across in my life that get this part right. My mother in law, Janet McMullen, is one of these people. She is the professor that will never retire. The one whose job is so much more than the courses she teaches. She found her purpose, and lost herself. Spending many times investing in her students, praying with them, teaching them. Living with a hotline to Heaven. Praying for others daily. 

When your purpose becomes bigger than you, you lose yourself. We often begin because we want to make a difference. If you then strive to make a difference doing something that makes a difference beyond you, you are beginning to lose yourself. Even more maturing to making a difference doing something that makes a difference beyond yourself with other people who make a difference. You are becoming significant.

Jesus tells us in Mark 8: 34-35 "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life would lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." If you are bigger than your purpose you have a career, however when your purpose becomes bigger than you, you have a calling. Imagine putting your purpose to work with people that has eternal factors involved. This my friends, is a whole other level of living. 

That is all my friends- I wish you all blessing and love. 

--Everytime you put ALL of you into someone else, something bigger, EVERYTHING changes.--

-Ashleigh Mc




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