When God Says, What If? How Your Purpose Will Impact The World

Chapter 1 - The Choice You Must Make

Let's face it. You picked up this book because you want a better life. Maybe you are just pushing your way through and have asked yourself, is this really what life is about? I know because I was there too. I wish that I could say that I had it figured it out early in life. I wish someone had explained to me all the lessons that I now understand that took me until my fifties to figure out, but I didn't. The good news though is that I get it now, and I am spending my life sharing it with others.

Let me tell you something important. Your life is meant to be amazing. You are not meant to live a boring, frustrating, just get by life. Do you hear me? You are meant to have an AMAZING life and if you aren't living it yet, then here is the good news. I am going to show you how.

I won't do what some writers do and make you wait until the last chapter of the book to reveal what God showed me. It actually came in the form of a question and I am excited to share it with every single person who is looking for meaning, looking for a great life, looking to live every day being happy and excited. The question came in the form of "what if" and was a vision of what the world could be, that came to me in prayer. What was I praying about? I was praying about the chaos in our world. I was asking God for the answers to the evil that is confronting His people on what seems like an increasing basis. I was praying to know what I could do to help. How is that for a prayer?

When I pray, I do it with great humility because I know with every ounce of my being that I am nothing without God. I now understand that without Him I can't do anything great, so anything that I do accomplish is through His grace and mercy on my life. What a freeing thought it is to know that all we are that is good, is from Him and Him alone. This knowing quiets my ego that loves nothing more than to take credit for all that is good, all that I accomplish, all that it wants to feel superior through. So when I asked God in prayer how I could help, what I can do to help this chaotic world that seems more lost than at any other time in my life, He answered with a vision.

What if every person on earth followed the unique plan that they are destined to follow? What if each and every one of us understood and embraced the idea that there was a specific plan for our lives that was set long before we were ever born? What if instead of listening to what people say we should do, we instead listen to that small voice of our hearts? What if?

Even if you don't read the bible, you may have seen or read, Soul Surfer, the story of Bethany Hamilton, who as a surfer had her arm bitten off by a large shark. It was a powerful story of tragedy, despair and finally hope, faith, perseverance, determination, and strength. In that movie, a very powerful scripture verse is spoken to her when she is in the midst of despair trying desperately to understand how if God loved her, something like this could have happened. It was Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome."

Jeremiah 29:11 is a powerful scripture verse that each one of us needs to understand and embrace. We are here for a reason that is God ordained, and the best part of that scripture is that God's plan is for good – not for evil. Now, do you see how it ties back to my prayer to God about our world? If each of us has a predestined plan, a plan that is for good and not for evil, then the answer to the evil and chaos in this world is actually very simple. Each and every one of us must do what we were destined to do. That is it, and before you think it's too late for you, let me tell you the good news. If you are reading this and still breathing, then it is NOT too late!

There are many other scripture verses that speak to the specific path God has prepared for us. I stand in awe of each one that I read in its ability to strengthen my true knowing of why I am here. Have you ever asked the questions that I am certain plague every human mind? Why me? Why now? Why here? One advantage of being 51 is the lessons of mid-life. I now understand by experience that what others call a mid-life crisis is really a reflection of our having lived to this point in our lives without the knowledge of our true purpose. I see it now as another chance to find our path, to leave what the world says behind and to trust once and for all the divine power that brought us to life.

Ephesians 2:10 says it this way, "For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]." Wow! For me, the knowing for my life lives in those few sentences. Preplanned, destined for good – words for each and every one of us called into life.

What jumps out first for me is predestined, planned beforehand. All of my life I searched. I knew I was here for a reason, and here is the answer to why I always felt this way. My life was predestined, and so was yours. How I wish that someone had shown me this when I was young, when I was searching, when I was looking and looking for what I now understand was God.

The next aha moment in Ephesians 2:10 is living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live. The good life? Do you mean God wants me to have a good life? You mean I should NOT live just getting by, being frustrated, living in lack, living without joy? Exactly!! We are here to live a good life, and if we only understood that and embraced it, we genuinely would.

If you are still with me you are probably saying, Ok, but HOW? I have to laugh first before I answer at how impatient we can be. We always want to jump directly to the answer, get to it as fast as we possibly can, immediate result. I get it - that is how God made us, so to deny it is just silly. But when we are talking about our path in life, we have to first realize that it is a path, and it is the way that we are to live our lives. You know the saying, "it is not a destination; it is a journey." But I also get the wanting to get to the good stuff part, and I am with you on that, and I will do my best to show you the way. Actually, this book is not only about the vision, but also about the way, so stick with me and we will get there too.

But before we jump ahead I want to answer another question that we all need to think about – who am I? This is something we have to be really clear about BEFORE we can get to the destiny part. Let me tell you straight up – that you are NOT what the world says that you are. This is worth repeating – you are NOT what the world says you are. You are also not who your parents say you are, who your boss says you are, who your friends, your acquaintances, the media, your coaches or ANYONE else on this planet says you are. Are you starting to understand where I am going with this?

You are a unique individual, perfectly and wonderfully made by God for good. You are perfect as God intended you to be! This doesn't mean you don't have work to do, or that you don't make mistakes, or maybe you are saying to yourself that you may even be totally off track at this moment. That doesn't change who you are! Instead, it means that you are a perfect creation to fulfill what you have been uniquely designed to do on this planet. I tell my children over and over again, that who they are is a conversation between each of them and God. No one else on this planet, not another living soul, knows what my children are capable of. And that goes for each and every one of us too.

If you don't understand this part then you cannot fulfill your destiny. It is actually pretty simple. That doesn't mean you can't have earthly success, and we will discuss that too, but it does mean you cannot fulfill your life's true purpose unless you are willing to accept the true miracle of yourself.

So if you are ready, if you are willing to accept or even to begin to accept that you are a miracle, that you are perfect for your purpose, then we are ready to jump into all that God has waiting for us.