Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice?

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" - Romans 8:28

Hello Ladies and Gents! I hope you all are enjoying fall as much I am! Don’t you just love the crisp air, warm drinks, foliage, and the oh so "basic" pumpkin spice everythanng?! {LOL} I don’t know if you can tell, but fall is certainly one of my favorite seasons; I just love everything about it.

Though I love all things fall, I am actually not here to talk about the season or anything that pertains to pumpkin spice (I just thought it was a cute title haha) however, I am here to prepare a special seasonal pie of Purpose.

First things first, I have to tell you that this blog post comes with a taste test of transparency. So here goes, the last couple of months I have been struggling to identify my sense of purpose, and simultaneously have been experiencing an overall lack of passion.

Honestly, up until recently, this lack of direction has been a foreign concept for me. All of my life I have worked towards a purpose driven goal with having spent many years obtaining an education knowing exactly what I wanted, where I needed to be, and the steps to get there. Essentially, I was provided with an academic recipe of success in which I followed to the "Tee". That worked for a while, but currently I find myself in the "Ok now what" phase of my life where I feel as though I have reached a plateau of accomplishment creating a very uncomfortable, comfort zone.

I do take fault in having arrived to this place however, because I chose not to add my own flavor to the spelled out menu of success that is handed to so many. You know the one that says to do this and that, but leaves little room for individuality and cultivation of passion...yup that one.

So I came to a conclusion.

I realized I had been eating at the wrong table and needed a new seating arrangement. But in what capacity? ... When? Where? And How? To answer these questions my very first instinct was to pray, and through prayer I learned that the re-discovery of my lost ingredients of passion and purpose were packed into three points; to surrender, to seek, and to see.

Surrender.

I quickly understood that I was not going to be able to figure this out alone, and so I went to God with the intention of placing myself in a position to be pruned. In this, He taught me that my purpose in life will not reflect my own, but His will. Simple as that. So understand that the first seasoning in your pot of purpose will not come from your kitchen, but from the Master Chef’s.

Seek.

The book of Proverbs is one of profound wisdom, and countless times it tells you that if you seek you will find. If you seek God you will find Him, and if you seek your purpose you will surely find it. For me, this second point could not be more than true! Once I took myself out of the equation of my purpose, God began to order my steps. Although, I am still not a 100% sure of my purpose, God has made it a point to let me know He is listening to my prayers. He has done so by allowing me to see and hear the verse Romans 8:28 so many times that I KNEW it was not mere coincidence. Through this I understood my path will not always be easy and will require patience, but I also know that it will work out perfectly based on my love and gratitude for God. Man oh man, I can’t tell you how meaningful this is for me! It provided me with so much peace and comfort that I had been longing for, for months. I now understand that I have to let go of the control, and let God pour into my pot of purpose.

See.

One day as I was digging deep into my daily devotion, it stated something along the lines of, "Live in today’s purpose and you will begin to see tomorrow’s". I thought this was amazing advice that needed to be shared. Too often we are so focused on tomorrow that we forget about the day's assignment. We forget that your now also has purpose. Where has God currently placed you ? Are you gracefully fulfilling the tasks of this placement? Or are you so focused on tomorrow that you haven’t been able to prosper in your current place? I ask you these questions because these are the questions I was forced to ask myself.

Through self reflection, I found that I was doing more complaining about my current season, when I should have been spending more time cherishing it. I wasn’t seeing how important my actions today aligned with my developing purpose for tomorrow. So now I am in the process of changing my preconceived notion about my passion and purpose. Now I am taking the steps to being more purposeful in all that I do. And so to wrap up this meal, I will be leaving you with a quote from the book, P's & Q's The Journey to Becoming Prime Quality, written by my good friend Craig D. Glover Hines. In this excerpt he pinpoints the key ingredients to not just existing, but living a purposeful life.

Craig states:

"It must be their faith, their mindset (outlook), how they love themselves, how they respect themselves, their ability to plan and ability to execute, their actions, their speech, their attire, their character, their ability to listen, ability to serve, ability to love, humility, confidence, and their nonstop pursuit, desire and passion to unlock every possible secret there is to fulfilling their purpose in life" (p.16)

Take time to not just look, but to see what God has for you. Therefore keep your eyes open to opportunities and circumstances that may be leading you into your God-given purpose !

Always served with love,

Dri ♥