Ep. 26 Don’t Let People Pleasing Stop Your Purpose with Ayana Symone
Grab your latte & let's chat purpose. Listen In On Spotify | Pocket Casts | Anchor | Apple Podcasts season 2, Episode 26 Don't Let People Pleasing Stop Your Purpose In this jam packed episode, Megan sits down with Ayana Symone from the To Be Heard...
What Is Purpose? Part 3
One way is to know that God called us to be obedient — He has specific things He calls us to be obedient to in in the Bible.The Lord has good works for us to step into in our day to day. This is why purpose leads us to a bigger concept of our life calling and plan, but also applies directly to what we do, say and act and step into every single day. It applies to those little details.There is purpose in TODAY. You have things you’re called to TODAY. What a HIGH calling and way to live life!
Why We Need Gal Pals
I am just overwhelmed for all my gal pals out there. What a difference they make in our lives. Those girls that are blowing up your group chat during the work day. The ladies that never miss a beat and are always sending you scripture and encouragement, like exactly the ones you NEED to hear. The girlfriends that will literally drop everything late at night to come be with you and pray hard prayers. These are the people we need and I fervently pray that you have them in your inner circle. I think of Jesus who had the 12 disciples, yet when it came time for Him to pray in the Garden after the Last Super, He took three with Him. His inner circle. What does your inner circle look like??
What Is Purpose? Part 2
What is purpose? What is living purposefully?
One verse I LOVE that speaks to what purpose is Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
What does this mean? 1) You are His workmanship 2) He created you for good works 3) He prepared a life and good works for you to step into before you were even born.
What Is Purpose? Part 1
I believe GOD WANTS things for us, I believe HE CALLS us to do… FOR HIM, I believe HE DEFINES who we are, I believe HE CALLS us to not waste what HE CALLS us to do FOR HIM. But as I’ve surfed the Christian Insta world, I’ve noticed and been confused by the very me-centered Christian culture that speaks to purpose. The documentary and verses I happened to be studying at the same time helped me realize that PURPOSE, my purpose, is not about me at all. It involves me, ABSOLUTELY. God cares about me, wants good for me and has plans for me. But purpose – the general and specific purposes particular to me are ALL REVOLVED around God. God has a purpose – He involves us in it. Therefore, we have purpose.
Comparison: Losing Sight
Comparison holds me back from celebrating others because I envy. Comparison holds me back from what God has for me and my purpose on this earth because I spend too much time thinking about others’ successes OR MYSELF and my own inadequacies — making me feel lesser-than and hopeless. Comparison breeds discontentment causing me to be dissatisfied with who I am. “The cost of comparison: pride & insecurity.” Summed up, comparison tears me down and it tears down my relationships with others as I grow in jealousy rather than love. It takes my focus off of God and what He calls me to and who He’s made me to be. She wrote in that same post: “the cure? 1. Recognize your universal calling (to keep your eyes on JESUS) 2. Recognize your unique calling (whatever it is the Lord has created ONLY you to do right where you are).”
How To Help A Friend Who’s Hurting
In 2 Corinthians 1, the Bible gives an incredible explanation on the purpose of pain and suffering.
It’s a section that has HEALED my heart drastically from pain and suffering in my own life.
But recently, I noticed another perspective it leaves about suffering in the middle of the chapter: how to be a good community to someone who is suffering.
In his suffering, Paul tells the recipients of his letters one thing that he wants from them: prayer.
2 Corinthians 1:11 says, “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
PRAYER.
And he seems to really believe it’ll make an impact when he says blessings will come THROUGH those prayers.
Before I continue, there are other ways to help our friends who are suffering, hurting and going through the thick of it.
In my own suffering seasons, I cherished people who would sit with me as I cried, who cried with me, and who stuck with me through it. I cherished people who simply were THERE for me.
BUT …