Enduring Purpose
Nobody knew my name, and they certainly weren’t going to notice whether I was at church on Sunday. I didn’t have a permanent address—something that took nine months to resolve. I couldn’t find my way to the grocery store without GPS. And all my kids were in school for the very first time.
The year we moved to Idaho for my husband’s new job was among the most challenging of my life. I felt utterly adrift, untethered from everything that had grounded me in my sense of self and how I should spend my time.
What I had at first anticipated would be an exciting adventure in a new state quickly became a season of reflective questioning: Who was I when so much of what I’d previously used to define my life was stripped away? Who was this “Idaho Kirsten”? What was her purpose and role in this new place and season?
Who Am I—And What Do I Do?
When change—of our choosing or not—ushers us into a new season, we might find ourselves disoriented in our sense of identity and purpose in life. Sometimes these pivotal moments arise from good and natural shifts, such as sending our last child to school.
Other times, they are borne of unwelcome crises. These new seasons triggered by change can shake our very sense of who we are and why we exist:
- Who am I (and what do I do) if my kids no longer need me to tie their shoes, or drive them to practice, or advise them on big life decisions?
- Who am I (and what do I do) if I’m no longer a wife?
- Who am I (and what do I do) when I’m no longer employed?
- Who am I (and what do I do) if an injury suddenly and permanently limits my ability to use my body or my intellectual faculties?
- Who am I (and what do I do) if nobody in my new community knows my skills and passions?
Worshipful Pauses
When Jacob learned his son wasn’t dead but was in fact alive and prospering in Egypt, he moved more than sixty family members to escape the famine in Canaan and be near Joseph. We can too quickly skip over how monumental this shift was for Jacob and his household: the coming season involved a new place, a new culture, restoring trust, and learning new roles. Even in his ancient context, he likely experienced many of the challenges we do today. As they ventured out from the life he’d known, Jacob paused at “Beersheba [and] offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac” (Genesis 46:1). He paused at this precipice of change to worship. God spoke to Jacob there, saying, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there” (v. 3). The Israelites indeed grew in number, despite the harsh conditions and forced labor they ultimately endured under Pharoah.
It’s easy to conflate our setting or circumstances with our sense of purpose and identity. Yet they are not one and the same; they’re distinct from each other. God’s purpose for the Israelites in their collective season in Egypt wasn’t for them to make bricks (see Exodus 5:6–9). And it wasn’t just to grow them in number. To take God at His word, His purpose was to form them: “to make them into a great nation” (v. 3).
Our Enduring Purpose
To find our own purpose in new seasons and chapters of life—as distinct from our setting—we’d do well to follow Jacob’s pattern: to pause and worship, allowing God to form us, to do His work in us. Even when we are stripped of what we’ve known, we are still known to God, and our sense of purpose is best found in
- Knowing God
- Loving God
- Serving God
- Glorifying God
- Enjoying God
Perhaps “what is my purpose” isn’t the most useful question to ask ourselves in new seasons of life. A more helpful question might be “in this season—today, even—how can I know, love, serve, glorify, and enjoy God?”
The shape of our lives will change—and so will how we experience and express our knowledge, love, service, edification, and enjoyment of Him. Yet if we hold these things to be our primary purpose in life, our sense of purpose will transcend all of life’s temporary chapters and seasons, one day finding perfect fulfillment in the final and most glorious chapter we’ll enjoy in eternity.
—Written by Kristen Holmberg. Used by permission from the author.
2 Responses
Thank you for sharing your testimony. I can relate to the challenge of trying to understand who you are in new seasons of life. After a life changing car accident that occurred over 20 years ago, my life shifted, changed, from the one I had become comfortable with to one where everything around me is unfamiliar. I am continuing to work towards understanding the new me and what it is I am to be doing. Thank you for sharing that my purpose or what I should be doing now, in this season of new beginnings, is understanding how I can know, love, serve, glorify, and enjoy God.
Blessing
This reminds me of lyrics of a song. Through it all, through it all. I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, yes I’ve learned to trust in God. Life is going to happen, what we do while it is happening is the important part. If we are doing what he called us to do in love, service and edification of him, the hard parts are easier and good parts are greater! I’m learning, becoming and focusing on what I know to be true. That truth leads me back to the lyrics of the mentioned song.