In July 1992, I was nine months pregnant with our first son, my husband was graduating from college and we had our first call to a church.  My life was going just as expected.  Ever notice when you feel that way, God has a way of saying “I’m the one in charge, not you?”

Well, two weeks before our son was born and we were to move to our new church, we got a call “The church is closed.  You are still welcome to come and help in a restart but there is no longer a congregation here.”  WOW!  I was a wreck.  What was the purpose in all this? I am so glad God has given me a level-headed husband.  He prayed and said, “I know God called us there so this does not change our plan.”  Well, long story short, what we thought was going to be our first ministry as assistant pastor became a two year growing time for God to shape us into a couple dependent on Him alone and to teach us many lessons in contentment and prayer.

To this day I look at that time as the greatest spiritual growth and faith building experience of my life.

Is purpose any different than calling?  Absolutely!  God called us to a church that didn’t exist for a purpose totally different than what we were expecting.  We had to follow God’s calling and did not know His purpose until years later.

Acts 5: 38-39 says

“…if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.

But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men;

you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

God calls us to do certain things that seem to have no purpose, but by following God’s plan and striving to please him we’ll begin to see the purpose in our lives.We must live each day asking God to show us how to draw closer to Him TODAY.  Some days it may be keeping our mouths shut, another day may include speaking out against a wrong.  The only way we know what His purpose is in our lives is by being close enough to God to hear Him give us direction.