Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 143:8
Every woman has a unique purpose on the earth, a unique role to fill, a unique set of tasks to accomplish. There’s amazing freedom in knowing who you are, and the in doing what you know to do!
The true reason you are on this earth may be different from what you once thought your purpose would be. The role you always thought you might fulfill may not be at all what God has actually asked you to do.
This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t still have certain roles, relationships, and opportunities ahead for you. It does mean that right where you are, and as you are, God has a very specific purpose for you to fulfill. Real freedom comes when a woman chooses to find her unique niche in whatever circumstance she finds herself.
Barbara Johnson has written about one young woman who didn’t get what she necessarily wanted . . . but she got much more.
“At her small, rural high school, cheerleaders for the basketball team were elected by a vote of the student population. She’d been on the squad the previous two years, so it was especially hard when her junior year began and she wasn’t reelected. The election took place in the morning, and she had a hard time enduring the rest of that long, sad school day, her young heart broken as she felt her fellow students’ rejection and thought of all the fun she would be missing the next year as her friends carried on with their enthusiastic cheerleading . . . .
The next day at lunchtime, the basketball coach asked her if she would be the team’s statistician during the coming season. She quickly agreed.
Her new position meant she still got to ride the bus with the cheerleaders and basketball players to all the games, and, she said, “I got lots more attention from the boys on the team when I was statistician than I ever had as a cheerleader, because the players always wanted to know their stats. I had to keep track of every shot attempted―where it was made from and whether the shot was good―and I had to figure percentages for each players. So suddenly all the boys on the team were always wanting to talk to me!”
The experience was a life lesson for that young woman. It taught her to look for something good in the difficult experiences that have come her way and to give her hope. It reminded her that even when setbacks and challenges occur, she must be patient and wait for the next step of the plan to unfold.
In a strange but marvelous way, her belief gives her a sense of freedom because she knows she doesn’t have to figure out the big picture by herself. She doesn’t have to see how each piece of her life fits into God’s big, glorious picture. She just keeps believing. Keeps praying. Keeps trusting. And she knows that in the end, God’s plan will be revealed to her, and she’ll be able to see her life as God sees it.”
1. Have you ever been disappointed that something didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped―but then something even better happened?
2. In what ways do you struggle when you don’t see how all the pieces of your life fit into “God’s big glorious picture?”In what ways do you struggle to “keep believing” and to “keep strusting?”
3. What do these verses of Scripture tell you about your ability to see your life as God sees you?I Corinthians 13:12
I Corinthians 4:4–5
Psalm 31:19
4. What do these verses tell you about the surety of God’s plan and purpose coming to fruition in your life?Habakkuk 2:3
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Psalm 31:14-16
5. God’s Word gives us abundant encouragement to wait for God’s best timing and methods. The very essence of a walk of faith is to believe that God will reveal His purposes to us as we “step out.” He gives us light for one step at a time.What do the verses below tell us about God’s faithfulness?
Hebrews 11:3
Lamentations 3:25
Galatians 6:9-10
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a woman who no doubt envisioned a different life for herself than the one she eventually led. As a young girl in Israel, she would never have imagined that she might become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit after she was betrothed to Joseph. She would never have imagined a journey to Egypt and back. She would never have imagined that her baby boy would one day die by Roman crucifixion.
6. Has your “role” in life turned out the way you envisioned it when you were a young teenager? What is different? What is the same?How have you coped with the differences?
Is what ways do you need God’s help as you identify your life’s purpose? Ask Him for that help!
Excerpted with permission from Amazing Freedom, ©2007 Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. To purchase a copy of Amazing Freedom and enjoy the other 11 chapters of Bible study, click here.
