Here is the second part of my thoughts on fulfilling the passion that God has put in your heart. Again, some of my thoughts may still be kind of jumbled, but this was written while I was awake all night meditating on these thoughts that God had given me.
Part II: Clarifying Your Passion
I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
In my life, it was easy to realize my path but not my passion or calling. I am a fourth generation firefighter. I grew up around firefighting, so it was an easy prediction that I would become one. On my way to becoming a career firefighter, I realized I had a want to help people in need. One of my favorite quotes to say is, “I hate to see bad things happen to people, but I want to be there when it does.” I don’t want to be there because I am morbid or have a need to see people in pain, I want to genuinely help these people in need. I hate to see people hurting.
Now, I realized I wanted to help people in need, but my passion was still out of focus. I didn’t know where God was pointing me or exactly what my “ministry” in life would be. I've always just had a feeling that God has amazing things planned for my life and that I will touch many people’s lives. I always just had a generic passion that was never being fulfilled, which became increasingly frustrating. I moved from ministry to ministry, tried different life groups, helped at all the outreaches, volunteered in areas that I knew I had no interest in. I just wanted to find out where I belonged. Then, I figured out that there was a major item missing from my life that was keeping my vision from becoming clear.
I was raised in a Christian home with both of my parents who were very loving and taught me how to live with honor and be a gentleman. We went to church two or three times a week the entire time I was under my parents roof. I asked Christ into my heart at a young age and always knew right from wrong. Once I moved out, I strayed for a few years and, after several life lessons and battles, I moved back in with them. Over the next five or so years, I got married to the love of my life and found a church that felt like home. I learned more and more about myself and my relationship with Christ daily, and still do today. This is where I figured out what was missing in my life and was keeping my passion just out of focus. I did not have a PERSONAL relationship with Christ.
I had grown up in church, sang all the right songs, said all the right prayers, but had never completely taken what I was doing to heart. I didn’t read the Bible regularly, I just learned my memory verses. I didn’t spend any time in prayer, I just prayed at church during alter time. Most of all, I certainly didn’t volunteer any of my time helping my local church. These items all rolled up into one are the reason most of us never see the full potential of our passion and also live unfulfilled lives. They were the reason I had never seen mine, and to this day I sometimes struggle with keeping these things a main focus in my life.
I realized around the age of 30 that I have to constantly and consistently stay in God’s Word. I need to spend some time in prayer during the day, preferably not as I’m laying my head on the pillow at night. As I started to do these things regularly and make my walk with Christ the major priority in my life, my passion became focused and clear. A few of the edges were still fuzzy, but there it was staring me back in the face.
This is one of the hardest places to make it to in your journey. The majority of Christians never reach this point. Probably because they don’t realize the commitment it takes to have a personal relationship with Christ, or they don’t want to let go of some of the things that are cluttering up their lives in order to have time to pursue Christ. I fought with letting things go for a very long time, and occasionally still do. However, when I did and sincerely began to pursue Christ and his will for my life, amazing things happened. I began to see my passion clearly and started putting it on paper. Then things started falling into place for my passion to become a reality.
The only piece of advice that I can give someone in this position is this: don't move to fast. Just because your passion is now clear doesn't mean that you go charging ahead. You must still wait on God to help you put all the pieces in place to make your passion successful and life changing.
I really hope this helps someone in their journey. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!
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