Bridges...

Have you ever considered what your purpose is in life? I'm sure you have. Pondering our life's purpose is important. It's like the needle on a compass or the location setting on our GPS trackers. Knowing our purpose in life allows us to pick and choose activities, relationships, professions and even hobbies. I'm not just talking about occupations here. I'm talking about your life's purpose...how you make an impact on this big ball we call Earth.

I have taken a step back to look again at my purpose. Last year was a whirlwind for me - and even though I don't think I got too far off track, my vision got blurred from my Mother's sickness and death and from pushing so hard to fast track my seminary classes. But what came out of that was a renewed desire to be sure that the choices I make going forward connect to my purpose - my calling to ministry and the organic reason that God put me on this planet.

As I was praying one day, a picture of a bridge came to mind - one that looked something like this bridge. I couldn't get away from this image. I began to look for definitions that would help me see more clearly what God was showing me and He showed me that bridges connect two destinations that are divided by a body of water, a valley or crevice in the land that would be deemed treacherous or physically impassable without access to the bridge. As I thought more about this definition and image, I began to see this image as vision of my life's purpose. I'm a bridge. My life has been spent more often than not connecting people and problems with other people and solutions. I've often described my life as a great big "Dot to Dot" picture because I enjoy connecting people with other people and I really enjoy connecting life experiences with God's purposes.

This is not something that I had to learn to do or strain to be comfortable doing - it just flows naturally. If I may ask, what is your life's purpose? Has God given you a mental picture to help you understand it? If not, have you taken time to ask Him? So much of our lives are spent searching for that perfect career calling or that ultimate destiny that we miss knowing the real purpose of our lives. Maybe this is a simple concept that all of you who are reading this have known a long time about yourselves and I'm just now discovering it - that wouldn't surprise me at all! I'm a late bloomer! 😉

I think my point to writing this today is that we are all created to live our lives to love and glorify God by loving people and caring for His creation. We can best do that when we know our purpose and allow it to naturally flow through us. We can study about spiritual gifts and fruits of the Spirit and we should - it's very helpful to know and understand them well. But we shouldn't limit our calling to just our occupations or how we serve the body of Christ. Spending time in His Word and in prayer will help us all to discover and become more comfortable in living out our purpose and should help us to find contentment in the journey when the storms rage.

As I move forward in this journey in ministry, my heart's desire is to be the bridge that connects people with Christ, first and foremost. I want to be a vessel that connects artists and the arts back to the church and the love of Christ to artists who are searching for Him. And if I'm given the opportunity, I'd love to connect those in my circle with Israel and Israel with them - because connecting with Christ, with Israel and you who are in my circle has changed my life forever for the better...and I'd like to be able to offer that to others too.

Connecting dots and sowing seeds... Amy