Hello. I hope everyone enjoyed their extended Memorial Day weekend. While it was extremely hot in the great state of Texas, it was still an enjoyable experience as my weekend was filled with birthday parties, private socials, and crawfish boils. As a matter of fact, it was at one of these Memorial Day galas that I ran into one of my supporters and had received a well needed surge of ‘purpose continuance’. Yes, even I need that jolt every now and then to continue to do the things that I have been called to do.
During our brief conversation, this young woman, whom I have had the generous pleasure of knowing for many years, proceeded to thank me for the lessons that she has learned from the CLK.com EMPOWERMENT Blog. As she continued in her exciting recitation of my most popular blog topics, she not only began to encourage others to explore the contents of my web journal, but also had begun to inject me with a well needed dose of encouragement and vigor. For that, I thank you, my friend. You know who you are. Now, let’s move on to today’s blog. Enjoy.
Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of watching my daughter celebrate her third birthday. And while it was a joyous occasion, I think the fact that the party wasn’t held at Chuck E. Cheese was enough to be excited about. But as my daughter ran through the party, jumping, laughing, and eating her fair share of pizza and birthday cake, I couldn’t help but have one of those important moments of reflection. Here she was celebrating her third birthday. Full of life and innocence. Full of joy and excitement. But where would her experiences take her over the next ten years? Twenty? Or the next thirty? What profession would she choose? What would she have accomplished when she reaches my age? What trials would she go through? What hurdles would she overcome? And how would those trials affect her? And not exactly certain of how some of these questions would be answered about my own life, I began to wonder, how have my many obstacles affected me?
As I continued my internal interview, I began to think about many of the obstacles that I had to face over my lifetime. While some were result of my own decisions, others were simply results of circumstance. Let’s just look at a few of them:
1) At the age of 5, I was hit by a car, while riding my bike. It was said that the driver was drunk.
2) Later, my mother struggled to provide a decent living environment for our family as we often lived in rat infested residences. I still remember my mother shooing rats off of me as I slept on one Saturday afternoon.
3) After being evicted from one of those subpar residences, my family spent several nights in our car before being taken in by a woman that then became my surrogate grandmother. I love you Dear.
4) In my teen years, a series of poor choices left me praying for my life, as I could have easily been sentenced to several years of incarceration.
5) In 1997, not knowing the seriousness of an injury, I found myself being rushed to emergency surgery as my appendix ruptured.
6) Two years later, God spared me during my desires and attempts at suicide.
7) In 2006, depression and stress led me to an emergency room during what could have been a massive heart attack. And the list goes on and on.
As I continued, I realized that any one of these circumstances could have easily been the cause of my mental, spiritual, and even my physical demise. However, for some reason, my life was spared; and spared for a reason. It’s times like these that I often wonder what was the purpose for my life being spared as opposed to others. And as you begin to chronologically examine the events of your life, I am sure that you will also find instances at which you could have been overcome by your circumstances. And seeing that you were spared from the effects of your circumstances, you, too, should ask the question, “Why me, Lord? Why did you spare me?”
Fortunately, over years of self reflective moments, such as these, I believe that I have truly been shown my purpose. What is your purpose? Stay tuned for tips on determining your purpsoe.
CLK.com