What to Do When You've Lost Your Sense of Purpose

One morning in the early 1990s, Sharon Stevens sat down

with her coffee and opened the Louisville Courier Journal, and

by the time she put it down, she knew she had to do something.

She was a hairdresser and a single mother living an ordinary

life in Louisville, Kentucky. There, in the newspaper, was a

story of Ed Schmidt, a widower raising two little girls on his

own, both sick with a liver disease and drowning under

medical bills he had no way of paying. Nothing about Sharon's

life to that point would have suggested she was the kind of

person who changes things, but she read that story and said

later she couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and she described it as a

true calling. a liver became available, and kept pushing

until the city was behind her. That day came on January 17th,

1994, in the middle of the worst snowstorm Louisville had seen in

decades. We'll come back to what happened that morning, but first,

welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger.

There have been moments in my ministry when I considered

leaving the pastorate. If I could have done anything else I

might have done. until the city was behind her. That day came on

January 17, 1994, in the middle of the worst snowstorm

Louisville had seen in decades. We'll come back to what happened

that morning. But first,

welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger.

There have been moments in my ministry when I considered

leaving the pastorate. If I could have done anything else, I

might have. But every time I came close to walking away,

something pulled me back to the calling I had when God first got

hold of me. I'm still here, and I'm glad I am. I tell you that

because I know what it feels like to look at the life you're

living and wonder what it's for. Maybe you're not in a crisis,

and maybe nothing dramatic's happened. The kids grew up and

moved out, or the career leveled off and the project ended, or

you just entered retirement. And now you're sitting there

wondering what you're supposed to do with yourself. Now that is

a loss, and it doesn't get as much attention as other losses

because it doesn't look grief from the outside. But it is

grief. It's the grief of a chapter ending without the next

one starting. I've sat with people in that place, and here's

what I've noticed. When purpose fades, we tend to assume God is

done with us. We wallow in our own boredom and wonder what God

has for us next. And we often mistake the gap between our

chapters for the end of the book. Here's what Esther 4.14 says

about that. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance

and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but

you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were

made queen for just such a time as this. Mordecai said that to

Esther when she was afraid. She had position and safety, and

using either one put everything at risk. Mordecai's point was

simple. You may have been placed exactly here for exactly this

moment, and walking away from it is its own kind of loss. That

last phrase is the one people have held onto for centuries,

for such a time as this. God's aware of the timing. Who you are,

what you've walked through, and where you are right now have

been building towards something.

standing. God is a pattern of giving people their clearest

sense of purpose at the exact moment they thought they were

finished. Well, think of Moses. He was 80 years old when God

called him to the burning bush. He'd spent 40 years in the

wilderness doing nothing that looked like leadership. Simeon,

in the temple, had been waiting so long to see the Messiah that

most people had probably stopped asking about him. Anna was 84

years old and still showing up to pray. None of them were young,

and none of them were finished. Purpose tends to find us when

we're doing the next figure. What is the next faithful thing?

Searching for the doesn't bring it back. Sharon Stevens wasn't

looking for a calling. She was drinking her coffee and reading

the newspaper. Esther wasn't strategizing for her moment. She

was being obedient one step at a time. Let that be the question

you bring to God today. What is the faithful thing in front of

me? Purpose tends to come into focus through obedience. Waiting

for the feeling to return rarely works. Now, let's get back to

Sharon. Louisville was buried under 19 inches of snow and the

city had shut down. Roads were impassable. The helicopter

Sharon had arranged to get little Michelle to the jet

waiting in Omaha needed somewhere to land and there was

no clear ground anywhere. So Sharon started making calls.

Before long, hundreds of people had shown up to the parking of

Southeast Christian Church with shovels, snow plows, and their

bare hands clearing a landing pad in a blizzard for a little

girl most of them had never met. Michelle made it to Omaha and

the transplant was a success. She lived to graduate from

college, get married, and work with children in the medical

field. A full circle she wouldn't have had without that

morning. said, Sharon said afterward, I'm just an ordinary

person. If I could do anyone can. She didn't set out to find her

purpose. She just couldn't put down a newspaper. That's the

thing about calling. It rarely arrives as a vision. It arrives

as a pull towards something in front of you that you can't

ignore. Sharon couldn't ignore the story. Esther couldn't

ignore the risk her people were facing. You may be sitting right

next to your next chapter and not see it yet because you're

looking for something bigger. Here's today's challenge. Ask

God one specific question today. What's in front of me right now

that needs my attention? Write it down if you can. Then take

one step toward it this week. Before you feel ready and before

the meaning is clear. Purpose tends to reveal itself through

movement. Lord, you know the ones listening today who feel

like they've run out of purpose. Remind them that you are not

finished with them. Please show them the next faithful step.

Give them the courage to take it before they see where it leads.

And let them trust you that you know exactly what you're doing

with the chapter that they're in. In Jesus' name, amen. This

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dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support . I thank you so much. And

thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives.

Remember, purpose tends to find you when you're doing the next

faithful thing. Come back next time for more encouragement to

help you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and

have a great day.