Wrestling with purpose

         A few weeks ago we attended a church in Beijing where the speaker was talking about purpose. It had me a bit uneasy as I thought through what my purpose is…I mean, I have been living in the middle of China in a house full of precious children, children who have been orphaned.  This should be an easy answer for me.  But when he asked us to share in small groups, I got really nervous and wondered what I would say. Kids? Orphaned children? Teaching? Somehow none of those answers really seemed ”right” (not that there is a right or wrong answer, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…

They went around the room and few people shared their answers…fighting injustice, the lost, etc…then my wise husband spoke up and said that our passions all lead us to the same thing, and that is desiring to restore right relationship with our Father, our Creator, as it was intended to be. So whether with children, with adults, with prisoners, or elderly, ultimately our purpose, our hope, is for things to be the way they should be, the way they were intended to be; our purpose is redemption.

As I spend this summer moving out of my role at MBHOH and into a role as wife, making our house a home, into a new teaching job, there’s a lot of processing that is and will be taking place. I truly grieve the loss of moving from something that I genuinely love, but also excitedly welcome this new season. I think I need to realize that just because I am not living in a home full of orphaned children, it does not change my purpose. Regardless of where I am and what I am doing, my heart should always seek restoration; whether it is for myself, or those around me, for my husband, my students, my future children, for those who suffer from injustice, or children who are orphaned.  

In the past month, I've been reminded in simple ways of God bringing me to China. Although there was pain in leaving, it was so clear. One of those reminders has been Ephesians 2:10 and remembering that He still has good works prepared for me, regardless of where my physical location is.