I have walked the path of purpose before marriage, while married, before motherhood, during motherhood, and now post-marriage. Post marriage is the strangest of all the seasons I have walked in terms of purpose. It shook up all of my ideas of what I thought was my purpose. I found purpose in being a wife and loved serving in that capacity (the fact it wasn’t a healthy marriage doesn’t take away from my love of being a wife and making a home!). I loved my purpose pre-children as a working woman with a job, I enjoyed it and did well at. When I became a mom, I especially felt called and felt that my purpose was more clear than ever. Or was it?

God has been showing me along the way that my purpose may have been rooted in the titles I carried along the way, rather than in Him. Ouch. It took him shaking my entire world upside down and turning it back inside out for me to see just how much comfort I had in the titles – which I had mistaken for my purpose in life.

It was an extremely painful process, but we know that all things work for good for those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28). Ironically enough, the full verse reads like this: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

There it is again: purpose. It is such an ambiguous word when we consider it from a worldly perspective. It can be crushing at times to try and figure out what our purpose is. The second part of this verse hold the key to which is crucial to understanding our real purpose here. Note that it says “called according to HIS purpose” not “our” purpose or “their” purpose. We are called to His purpose. Which leads to an even bigger question, what is His purpose and what does this verse mean?

I don’t often do this but this time I’m going to leave you with a cliff hanger and some studying to do. Not to worry though I’ll post a resource below to help get that started. Comment what you learned if you feel so inclined!

Check out this post by John Piper for more information on what according to His purpose means.