Live
Your Purpose
By Karen D’Amore
“….whatever you do,
do it all for the glory of God.”
1
Corinthians 10:31b (NIV)
The
primary focus of the two-day work conference was to educate and equip salon
owners and employees with innovative ways to grow their business. With the
course material bearing a distinctively “worldly” perspective, I wrestled to
find balance between growing my business “their” way…and growing it God’s way.
After a two-day immersion in semantics like success….prosperity.…power….and
money….I found myself growing resistant to the material and my attention fading.
Fortunately, I perked up and re-engaged when one presenter grabbed my attention
with the exhortation to... “Live your purpose!”
For
days, following the conference, I pondered that exhortation, while questioning…
“What is my purpose?” While searching through Scripture, I prayerfully sought
God’s perspective on the subject. As I considered our key verse, I recognized
that as a Christ-follower, everything in my life should bring honor and glory
to God. So, in my roles as a wife, friend, family member, employee, co-worker…and
nail technician…my purpose is to glorify God.
“Whatever
you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward” (Colossians
3:23-24, NIV). Relating this Scripture to my position in the workplace, I
acknowledged that I need to perform my job as though I’m working for God
Himself. With my supervisor expecting each employee to incorporate the
conference material into their business plan, I vowed to “live my purpose” by growing
my business “God’s way”! I explained to my boss, that if I attempt to grow my
business through self-focused efforts…God will not get the glory for what “I”
do. However, if I exercise faith in God and strive to glorify Him in every
aspect of my job, growth in my business will be unexplainable…except for Him.
While
coworkers stressed to shine and hustled to produce with implementation of those
conference growth strategies, I worked to exercise faith in growing my business
God’s way. Praying for empowerment to do the “unexplainable,” God exceeded my
requests, enabling me to defy logistics and produce record personal sales. When
asked how I did it, I threw up my hands and replied, “Jesus!” Aware of my personal
limitations and weaknesses, I was strengthened as I experienced God’s power and
accomplished that which I deemed impossible. Glory to God for making the
impossible Him-possible!
“By
this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My
disciples” (John 15:8, ESV). Christ-followers: what’s your purpose? To bring
glory to your Heavenly Father! Now…GO…be His disciples…and live your purpose!
GOING DEEPER:
1.
Are you living His intended purpose?
FURTHER READING:
Married
to Dan, Karen, a retired police officer, currently works as a Manicurist at
Craig Berns Salon and Foot Care Specialist at Shorehaven Senior Facility. She’s
on the Oakwood Women’s Ministry Special Events planning team.
