HOW TO FIND YOUR PASSION ( when you are not sure you have one )

in #passion6 years ago

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Have you ever struggled to find your passion ?

Ephesians 3:19 (CEV)
I want you to know all about Christ’s love, although it is too wonderful to be measured. Then your lives will be filled with all that God is.

I spent much of my life wondering what my passion was. “Find your passion”. I’d heard that more times than I can count. I attended Bible studies that encouraged finding my passion. I listened to speakers who suggested the very same. “Find your passion, and you will find your joy.” All I could ever think was, I don’t have a passion. Why did it seem so easy for everyone else? I played tennis, I ran in races, I scrapbooked, took up knitting (I never made anything more than very warped scarves), gardening, photography. You name it, I tried it. While I enjoyed all of those things, I wasn’t passionate about any of them. I saw people involved in their favorite activities, sharing, joyful. Others seemed to find passion not in activities but in service. I tried that, too, becoming more involved in my church and the community. Again, I enjoyed it, but passion still eluded me.

As I struggled through a difficult time in my life , I questioned and doubted the faith I had grown up with. After many months of great despair, I finally had to turn to God and the promise of Jesus Christ for comfort. As my faith in and my relationship with Christ grew, I spent more time in worship, more time in service, more time praising and thanking Him. I came to realize learning about Christ and sharing what He has done in my life and what He will do in everyone’s life if they will trust and accept His unfailing, unconditional love motivated me each and every day. I began talking about God’s love to people. I do love to talk; I have a degree in public speaking, after all. It never occurred to me, though, that talking, that words, could truly be a passion. Christ consumed me, filled me with joy, and made me excited to share. That’s what a passion does, right? I finally found my passion – talking about Him!
For me, I had to grow in my faith first. I had to let God’s love not only fill me from the inside but also recognize that feeling (filling?) as being from Him. That way, I could allow it to spill out of me into my life and into the lives of those around me. When we allow Christ to work in us, He provides passion in whatever ways He can best use us. What a wonderful blessing.
I encourage you to quiet your mind and talk with God. This is not a one day/one time conversation. Do this each day as often as you can. Only have a couple minutes? That’s fine. Half hour? That’s fine, too. Allow Him to fill you. Try not to ‘direct’ the conversation but instead just listen with your ears, your mind, your heart. You’ll find over time that when you align your activities to the things that truly give you this feeling and knowing of God, you’ll find your true passion.
Here are step by step actions including free downloads to help you discover (or remember) what you’re passionate about:

5 ways to find and focus on your passions are

  1. Revisit your childhood – Think back to when you were little before the busyness of life, the need to make a living, took over. What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you love to play when you played make believe? Are you still interested in any of these activities? Do you do them now? Can you add them to your life?

  2. Slow down in your crazily busy life now – Do you fill your time with stuff? Do you go and go and go so that instead of taking time to feel joy and to know where your happiness is on the inside you ‘never have time’ for yourself? Take time for prayer and meditation. Ask God for direction. Trust what He tells you in your quietest moments.

  3. Make a creativity board (or like me, a Pinterest board) – Either on poster board or through Pinterest create a place where you can fill it with all of the things that bring a smile to your face. Cut out pictures from magazines or write in the words or Pin the images of all you love – families? God? Writing? Scrapbooking? Photography? Health and Fitness? Traveling? What things are on your board? These are where you’ll find your passion.

  4. Change Your Story – How do you identify yourself? Mother, wife, sister, friend? Teacher, accountant, retailer, doctor? Reader, runner, writer, tennis player? Are these identities how you want to be known? What else would you like to add to your list, to YOUR story? Who do you want to be? If there are any you don’t like, strike them out. Change your story. You have that control. It is okay to do that.

  5. Push Past Your Fear – We can’t offer to the rest of the world the best us if we’re too scared to change, if we’re too scared of judgment, if we’re too afraid we’ll fail. Each of us is an incredible being made in God’s image. When we know that, we can give ourselves permission to go after our dreams.

What’s Holding You Back? / Overcoming Obstacles

Isaiah 41:13 For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you
Overcoming obstacles can seem daunting. The things that hold us back can vary:

  1. time
  2. money
  3. fear of failure
  4. confidence
  5. emotional support
    What has kept you from pursuing your dreams? For me, my obstacles have been a nice combination of all of the above but most specifically number four. Only when I finally found security in the knowledge that I am Christ’s child and how much I am loved did I have the courage to pursue my own.
    For this part of our 4-part series, Living a Life of Purpose, I want you to think about all that’s holding you back

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Psalm 52:7-9 (CEV)
“Just look at them now! Instead of trusting God, they trusted their wealth and their cruelty.” But I am like an olive tree growing in God’s house, and I can count on his love forever and ever. I will always thank God for what he has done; I will praise his good name when his people meet.

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