Who am I?

Who am I?

What's my purpose?

What's the point?

Tough questions! Yet, I ask them all the time. Sometimes, I think I know who I am: wife, mom, servant of God. Sometimes, I wonder how I got where I am. Often, I get curious about where I will go next!

I thought, by now, I would have the answers to those questions. After all, I am 43 years old. It seems I should have a clue. Yet, I find myself asking the same questions I've been asking for decades. The same questions my own teenager is tackling. And, just about every teenager I know. Maybe, just maybe, I haven't grown up yet :)

John 3:30 says, "He must become greater; I must become less." And that's where I find myself now. The more I discover of my purpose in life, the less it's about me. As my heart and dreams are refined, I become much less important. It matters less if I am recognized for my efforts. It matters less if my house is clean (perhaps that never mattered much anyway). It matters less that my ideas be recognized.

Conversely, it matters more that Jesus be recognized. It matters more that my home be filled with love, joy, peace, kindness and goodness. It matters more that God's plan be recognized - His plan for this world of salvation through a loving, personal relationship with His Son. His plan working through me - "so that all nations might believe and obey him—to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ!" (Rom. 16:26-27). Not that I can bring all nations to Him, of course, just the people my life touches... But, who will those people touch?

Just as God reassured the Israelites during their exile, in Jeremiah 29:11, "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," He offers the same to me. He has a plan for my life, full of hope and a future. He just wants me to walk with Him by faith - wherever He leads.

Perhaps, the answer to my question does not include a specific career path or tangible, measurable goal. Perhaps the answer is simply to live a life full of love for God, hope in Christ, and passion for people.