Made on Purpose, for a Purpose
“You are made on purpose for a purpose.” This is a fundamental belief at Christ Harbor Church. It’s a great saying, but have you ever stopped to wonder, “How do you actually figure that out?”
That’s where Handcrafted Calling comes in. I can personally tell you that when you truly invest yourself in the program, it can be life-changing.
One of the greatest things I took away from Handcrafted Calling was realizing that some of the things that had been spoken over me throughout my life simply weren’t true. They were things I had internalized and allowed to become part of my identity. Breaking those chains and freeing myself from what the world had told me about who I was became a true turning point in my life.
A couple of week’s ago, our guest speaker, Steve Seamands, asked a powerful question: “If you think you’re unlovable, does it matter how much love God has?” Think about that for a minute.
If you’ve been told things about yourself for long enough that you now believe they’re true, can you really accept that God has a job for you? A purpose for you? A place for you in His kingdom?
Another part of Handcrafted Calling that really impacted me was an activity called “Hinge Moments.” We were asked to list defining moments in our lives and then look at the insights that came from them.
Co-author of Handcrafted Calling, Dave Rhodes, tells us, “An uninterrupted story can leave you stuck in your past, while an interpreted one can fuel your future.”
Bad things happen to all of us. And when they do, we naturally wonder, Why? Why is this happening to me?
For example, I was widowed at 25. On August 8, 1995, after being married for a little over 15 weeks, I had to bury my best friend and say goodbye to the life I had planned with him. At the time, I certainly couldn’t see any purpose in that heartbreak. But looking back now, I can see how the grief I experienced then (and later through the deaths of my nephew and my father) gave me tools I would eventually need to help my daughter through the trauma she experienced after the death of her biological mother.
Would I ever want any of those things to happen? Absolutely not. Am I grateful for how those incredibly difficult experiences helped prepare me to care for one of the people I love most? Absolutely.
Sometimes we can’t understand the “why” while we’re in the middle of it. But God sees the whole story. He can take even the hardest chapters of our lives and use them in ways we never could have imagined.
Handcrafted Calling can be life-changing. It has created a closeness with God for me that surpasses any other study I have experienced. You begin to realize that you’re not just sitting on the sidelines; you’re on a team WITH God! You are a chosen teammate. You have a role. You have a job to do. And Handcrafted Calling can help you discover exactly what that job is.