THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

A Perspective

Chapter 1: It All Starts with God, continued

“You were made by God and for God – and until you understand that life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, or identity, or meaning, or purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.”

In the mid-90s I started reading my Bible again. Though I had never lost my faith during my selfish self-centered phase I didn’t go to church nor did I read the Bible, big mistake. When I started reading the Bible I started with my favorite book, Romans. And I stumbled across Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose.” The first thing that hit me was those two little words “all things”. That means that every experience of my life whether it’s good or bad can be used by God. The second thing that hit me was the phrase, “to those who are called according to his purpose” God has a plan for each of us but until we understand that he has a plan all of the things that happen to us are just things that happen to us. But, when we realize that God’s plan can take every single situation and use it for his good purpose then and only then does our life have true meaning.

Nothing brought that home more to me than my son Brian and my daughter-in-law Kelly. In 2008 my granddaughter Cailinn was born. She suffered chromosomal anomalies that would make her severely retarded. Both Kelly and Brian could’ve felt sorry for themselves and asked that proverbial question, “why us?” But they didn’t they chose to be parents to a special needs child. And God has used both Kelly and Brian to help other parents who have special needs children. Kelly now is a peer to new special-needs parents, she helps doctors at the hospital understand what parents are going through. And Brian relates to the men who have special needs kids. Do they hurt? Yes, but they do not let their pain stop them from doing good to others. God has a purpose for their lives and for Cailinn. Cailinn, has brought all of us so much joy. She’s growing a little more every day in ways that we never thought possible. God has a purpose for her also. What is God’s purpose for you? You have one you know.