My Purpose Driven Life

What a weekend!  Dallas, TX weather went straight into winter this weekend.  It was quite an eventful weekend as we celebrated my husband’s birthday Saturday night and we also celebrated our daughter’s dedication at church on Sunday morning.  I really wanted to talk about baby girl’s dedication in this blog post, but it reminded me that I never wrote about the day I was baptized, what it means and continue into how adding my daughter’s dedication to our family ‘s commitments has truly made the journey this year complete.

Some of you know, I started reading a book called, “Purpose Driven Life – What On Earth Am I Here For?” earlier this year.  I actually received it as a birthday present and both my husband and I read the book together.  The book is divided into 42 short chapters (six weeks) that can be read as a daily devotional.  I would read each chapter out loud to my husband every night.  Afterward we would have small discussions.   I loved it.  I will have to admit that I started reading the book being a little hesitant, wondering, “Am I really going to find out my purpose in this book?”  Turns out, I did.  I would hate to spoil the journey by writing too much about what the book contained, but I would also hate to not include or give this book the recognition that it deserves.  It has been one of the main reasons as to why I changed a lot of things about myself, my family and my life this year.

Rick Warren wrote the Purpose Driven Life, which is the best selling hardback nonfiction book in history and is the second most translated book after the Bible.  I am a BIG Oprah fan and a BIG fan of her show called Life Class.  I saw the episode which featured Rick Warren and immediately knew I wanted his book.  How impressing to know that he had the best selling hardback nonfiction book in history………in HISTORY! 

I received this book as a birthday gift from one of my dearest friends  (Thank you Ale) and the journey began.  There were so many aha moments during this journey. Reading the book isn’t just what changed my life, it’s what I did that made everything fall into place. Without going into too much detail, this book did emphasize on the importance of attending church and becoming a member of that church, getting baptized, surrounding yourself with fellow believers, serving, and realizing what my talents are and using those talents to pursue the purpose God set forth for me.  While that seems like a lot of steps, I did follow through. The outcome of that was in turn an abundance of joy and peace.

First things first, I started by finding my second home, my church.    To backtrack and give you some history, I would like to let you know that I was raised in the church and went every Sunday.  I was saved at the age of 12 and I always had God as a foundation in my life.  As I became a teenager, my family stopped going to church because we had moved and our church was about an hour away.  So in turn, my mom would have us watch John Hagee and Joel Osteen on TV.  I have to admit I hated sitting down and watching church during that age.  (Sorry Joel) When I turned about 16 or 17, my family started going to a different church.  Covenant Church became my new church and I went consistently, even taking my friends to this church.  I experienced a very depressing point in my life at the age of 19-20 and Covenant Church was my go to every Sunday and Wednesday.  I’d love to go into that time period, but that’s for another day and time.  From the age of 21- 28 I didn’t go to church.  I was confident knowing that I believed in God and that was all that mattered.  I was so wrong.  While marvelous things happened to me during that time period, I also had turmoil.  I didn’t have it together.  Something was missing. It was God.  That’s when I knew, my life needed to get back to where it was when God was actually in my life. 

I was on the search for a new church and I found Fellowship.  I’ll never ever regret that decision, as it has not only changed my life, but my family’s lives.  Shortly after attending, we made the decision to get baptized and what was even more special was that not only did Chris, my husband decide, but my parents, my sister and my step son Alec decided to get baptized all on the same day.  Baptism is the first step of obedience after making a commitment to Christ. Baptism allows a Christ-follower to communicate to the world their heart-felt commitment to Christ.  Life change happens at Fellowship and I can only demonstrate the difference by how I live my life now.  Although I am not living in a lavish home with a money tree in my backyard, I feel very rich and so incredibly blessed.

From there, taking part and volunteering at church became easy.  That too is another decision I have not regretted.  It is not just a job, it is a fulfilling position that I am very proud of.  With that decision came the next step of surrounding myself with Christ believers.  I have met so many wonderful people that I truly love and respect.  They lift me up and I know that no matter what I face, come joy or dismay, they will be there for me no matter what.  That right there has been such a blessing to me.

And so, with following those steps, came confidence, joy, love, blessings and so much more.  It has truly become my life.  I live for God and I live for going to church.  And I must say, being a Christ follower isn’t always easy, as it is hard to conform to the world where so much temptation surrounds us. It’s not easy, but it is totally worth it. What I love about God is that he is a forgiving God; he will not forsake me when I make a wrong decision and he will never abandon me when I need Him the most. He is everlasting and truly the love of my life.   The truth is, I will mess up, I will never be perfect, but the expectations I have for myself is to be better. It truly is just a day to day battle of choosing right over wrong.  I’m nowhere near perfect, but going to church and surrounding myself with positivity has without a doubt helped me in making the right decisions. 

My purpose is here where you are.  This blog.  God gave me the talent and passion to have a love for writing.  I'm using that talent to share my story, to share my love and to inspire and to let you know that God is the way to everlasting joy in life despite your circumstances.

To conclude, I just want to say that making the commitment on Sunday to raise my daughter in a Christ centered home is one of the most important things I have ever done for her.  I want her to be able to make the decision one day to follow in our footsteps and be a Christ follower, to know that with God all things are possible and to know that the secret to true fulfillment in life is to put God first. 

I hope you enjoy the pictures and if you have any questions at all about the book, about my journey, about baptism or anything related to this blog post, please let me know and I will be more than happy to answer.