What's My Purpose and Passion? by Carol Harrison

 The question about what my purpose and passion happens to be, can be a loaded question that makes me want to shut down and not bother answering - or at least it has on many occasions. Have I known it for a long time or recently discovered it? Has it changed over time or just grown in depth? 

Recently, I heard someone say that to discover, rediscover, or develop your present day passion and purpose, you need to revisit your younger self and see what captured your interest, made you want to spend endless hours in its pursuit, and enjoy the journey. As a teen, reading, studying, research, and writing school reports, essays, and stories captured my attention to the exclusion of many other pursuits. Some might say I exhibited many nerd-like qualities. Yet my main purpose continued to be finishing school and becoming a teacher. How would this passion for academic type pursuits serve me in the "real-world" of everyday life? 

I observed female role models in my life. All of them demonstrated their love for God and family through serving others. They managed households, could grow much in a small garden plot, sewed with ease, quilted, cooked delicious meals, and baked from scratch. Domestic activities in which they excelled and found their passion - or so it seemed to me- helped them serve others with compassion. How did study, reading, and writing fit into a purpose that would help others? I didn't know and felt it must mean I needed to discover another purpose for my life and pray my passions and interests changed. 

If someone asked me this question of purpose and passion in my twenties, thirties, and even into my forties, I would shake my head because I still struggled to figure out that answer. Or I might have thrown out the answer about raising my children, teaching Sunday School, or helping in our business. Yet throughout these decades of uncertainty and busyness, deep down the passion for more creative endeavors round its way into my life through crafts or jotting down ideas but never really pursuing anything. 

As a young girl, I understood that each one is uniquely created by God and we all, as believers, have to share the good news of the gospel. Later, I learned how God gives gifts and abilities for us to use to build others up and bring glory to God. Somewhere along the way I lost sight of this truth as it related to me. 

It took years of floundering, trying various activities, being busy with everyday aspects of life before I discovered the gifts God intended me to use didn't have to look like anyone else's gifts. I didn't have to be my mother or grandmothers, or aunts with their domestic abilities. I needed to be willing for God to use what he had given me, then pursue them, practice them, and persevere in the journey even when I didn't always understand the direction or the reasons. It is more than okay to be who God made me to be. So what is my passion and purpose? 

I am a storyteller. It means being willing to tell the story of what God has and is doing in whatever format that takes - written or oral. It also means participating in the journey with God and taking the next step when I can't see the one beyond that. 

God brought several scripture passages to mind, multiple times until they embedded deep into my heart and mind. 

Psalm 78:1-4, "O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old- what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done."

Psalm 105:1-5, "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced."

God used those years of fear, of uncertainty, the busyness of raising a family, and working in our own businesses at times, to teach me many things. He showed me through a variety of experiences that he is still the same God as the God of the Bible. He led people into my life who spoke into my heart with compassion, with affirmations, and sometimes with a kick in the seat of the pants as I needed to be nudged from a comfort zone I was never intended to remain in.

Those passions for creativity, study, and research, as well as the desire to teach or help others never changed. It simply developed as I came to terms with the directions God might lead me and how they might not look the same as I imagined or what others may have expected. That is okay. 

Some days are difficult to keep going. The path ahead remains in the shadows and I long to give up, hide out, and forget about sharing stories and God's love with others. Yet persistence or perseverance means I need to keep going one step at a time, allowing God to guide and direct. I don't have to understand all the complexities but rather be available and obedient. 

As I worked through all those thoughts on purpose and passion and how it showed up in my life, I wrote this mission statement a few years ago that sums it up. "As a speaker, published author and storyteller, Carol Harrison is passionate about mentoring people of all ages and abilities to help them find their voice and reach their fullest potential, helping them find a glimmer of hope in every circumstance of life."

In doing this, I can say with the psalmist in Psalm 71:1-4, "But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O Go, till I declare you power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."  

Carol Harrison keeps plodding on the journey one step at a time as she tells stories for her family and others. She hangs out for hours at a time in front of her computer from her home in Saskatoon, longing that others will be encouraged, entertained, or educated. Most of all that God will have all the glory.

Create with Confidence – Denise M. Ford

As writers we have an affinity with words that naturally leads us to opportunities to delve into ways that will expand our minds.  We live to unleash our words to our unseen audiences.  We read and shelve books into our storehouse of knowledge so that we can refine our writing craft. We seek out courses and conferences to engage with fellow writers.  We struggle to comprehend how to use the newest technology available to us.

Thank goodness we have the humility and the awareness to understand that we can learn from someone else’s skill or experience!

But where oh where and when oh when do we learn to create with confidence?

If anything, we as writers sometimes feel stripped down and torn apart by our lack of confidence.  We as Christian writers remind ourselves that we need to humbly appreciate a talent that may lead us astray.  We don’t want to get lost in avenues of pride and chasms of vanity.  As writers we can become immersed within our own viewpoints of interpretation. We easily fall into judgemental quips or objective summaries.

Confidence, where does it begin and how do we let it guide us?

This past week I found it in the pool.  My usual process for searching for the ideas for this writing blog follows a pattern: praying for a phrase, listening for repeated whispers, and then letting the phrase move out on its own. As it hovers in my mind, I find a way to expand and explore its meaning.

This week I let it swim around with me.  I have always enjoyed swimming from an early age. Now in my not so early age I have turned to deep-water running as a way to exercise and gain energy.  I used to participate in classes but now I appreciate the softer sounds of the early morning pool music. Instructors tend to shout above the beats of their favourite motivating music.  I prefer to move through my own routine so I can pray or listen for words to surprise me!

The fact is, I am short.  In the pool I can only touch bottom in five feet or under, making a deep-water workout easily achievable.  I can cross country ski or bicycle in the water on the edges of most areas of the pool.  Usually I don’t venture into an area that would leave me treading to survive, because I do not use a buoyancy belt.

Years ago, at my first deep-water running class, I had to learn how to adjust a waist belt to act like a lifesaver while I floundered in the depths of the deep water.  I even bought my own belt, so I didn’t have to struggle with a different belt each time I went to class.  Soon I learned the various techniques and methods to activate the muscle groups of my body to stay afloat in the routines.  Being comfortable in water, I stopped using the belt and found I could gain a more challenging workout without it.  I had the necessary confidence to adapt the movements to suit my individual workout. 

I rely on my swimming movements to keep me above the water.  I can confidently do that because I know how to swim.  I can float, I can push myself above the surface of any water, my confidence does not waver.

However, when the pool’s automatic waves begin and I am jostled about in currents that pull me away from my safe areas, my confidence temporarily slackens.  I do not know when I will lose my sufficiency to stay completely afloat.

Writing ebbs and flows like that for me.  One day I trust wholeheartedly in this creative skill, the next I am floundering about wondering if I should bother to release the ideas that come to mind.  I question whether or not I have the time or the basic foundation to pursue writing.

I need to respond with confidence. 

And here’s the phrase that surfaces:

Confidence buoys us up to create! 

I need to let the words flow as smoothly as the water moving around and below me.  I need to reach out with confidence and claim them as the ideas that need to be rescued and resolved in a piece of writing.

Fellow writers, we yearn to create.  We dive into the deep water of meaning and we hopefully surface with surprising new ideas.  Tools and devices, we have learned from courses, workshops, or books; may or may not stay with us as we strive to schedule our writing routines into our lives.

I hope that as we write we accept a valuable, perhaps new and precious piece of equipment.

Confidence. May confidence buoy us up to create!

Writers, let us continually challenge ourselves.  As we seek to do God’s will through our writing, may we trust in the ways we make various techniques and methods into our own personal writing styles.  May we not waver in the waves of criticism or the currents of distractions. May we place ourselves within the time slots required to make this response as a writer.  May we take pen in hand and write and write and write.  And may confidence, refreshing and invigorating, pour over us. 

May confidence buoy us up to create!

Postscript:

As I highlight the word, confidence, my Biblical index directs me to Psalm 71.

I realize I have always loved the imagery in verse 3.

“Be to me a protecting rock of safety, where I am always welcome.  Give the order to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”

I can certainly identify with this older Psalm writer who praises God for His faithful presence by tracing the blessings that have occurred throughout a long life. Verse 5 echoes in my writer’s heart and underscores the meaning of the phrase that came to me this past week:

“For you give me confidence, O Lord; O Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.”