Hello beautiful family and thanks for joining again! As we get ready to begin February 2021, and without fear to err, bets are that the year 2020 featured one of the worst years of our lives (collectively). Many people lost their jobs, homes, family members, their freedom to travel and explore, the ability to interact with others, families were torn apart and debts just skyrocketed. It will definitely be a while before everything gets back to 'normal'. In short, it was a bad year and as I'm sure many did, I definitely got my share of time spent at home.
As time spent at home significantly increased, and in the midst of all the troubles the year 2020 brought, I often found myself reflecting about life. In one of those 'reflection sessions' I started thinking about how I was spending my time and what I had done with my life up to that point... it was then when I began taking seriously the question: "what's the purpose of my life?" Yes, I had graduated college and graduate school, I had traveled, I married, I had found a decent job but... I still felt something was missing. I felt that my lifestyle and decisions up to that point in time made me feel accomplished, but that was it. As a Christian I felt that God had a higher plan for me than what I had for myself. So in my quest to find that 'missing' link, and knowing I genuinely enjoy writing, I decided to write and publish a book which I titled: "Just Enjoy the F* Ride". Yes I know is a strong title, I promise you what the content is not, however. I used a strong title because I wanted to convey others, including myself, the importance of enjoying life and not taking a day for granted. In my mind, if with my book I could/could've helped just one (1) person, that would be enough for me. After all.. that might've been my life's purpose! No?
On a separate note, writing a book was always in my bucket list, so what better year to do it than the year when I was always at home... right?
"Sometimes 'later' becomes 'never'. Do it now..." -unknown
As I wrote my book and did research for the contents of it, in my spare time I began watching documentaries such as: “Making a Murderer”, “Audrie and Daisy”, “Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich”, “Cold Case Files”, “The Social Dilemma", among others. If you have seen any of these documentaries, then you know that they come to show just how bad and full of injustices, death, suffering, anger, manipulation, and money driven individuals/corporations, this world is. Simultaneously, the pandemic was taking over the world, the fires in California were rampant, and day-after-day I saw people suffering and losing everything they had. The news flooded with catastrophes and pain. In the blink of an eye, entire lives changed. To that I added the fact that, being from Puerto Rico, my family and thousands of others had fairly recently suffered the disaster of Hurricane Maria. I mean... you can imagine all these things in the back of my mind while also thinking that people, in general, live stressful lives and is important to realize that we can't never take life for granted.
Clearly I saw a disconnect between what I was trying to write and what I was actually pursuing; an evident disconnect in my own and other people's lives. Enjoying your life each day within all the appropriate boundaries is awesome, but is it lasting? Is everything there is to life just about enjoying each day? The answer is... perhaps not. Throughout my research and by looking at my own life I saw how money, jobs, wealth, properties, travel experiences, and even health are all great but, still, didn't provide lasting satisfaction to people. I mean, isn't this what we see in the news feed often? Wealthy, healthy, young, famous people falling prey to drugs, addiction, depression, suicide and how stress levels on people are always sky-high...?
There is clearly more, much more to life than merely enjoying each day. As I pushed through my research, I found out that there's one thing that definitely gives full and lasting satisfaction to life. That is... PURPOSE. Living with purpose and serving that purpose definitely features at the top of the "things I must do in life" list. As a scientist who likes to ask questions, the immediate question then became: how do I find my purpose in life? As a Christian I knew that God could help me, so I prayed and went out and bought the book "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, and in the very first page that I read, it said:
"IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose." - Rick Warren
Certainly God spoke to me that day. No one, let me repeat NO ONE, can ever find true lasting fulfillment and purpose without God in the equation. It was then when I understood that there's absolutely nothing that this world offers than can refresh the mind as the soul as God can. Almost immediately, having been a Bible student for years, the following verse came to my mind:
"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope..." - Jeremiah 29:11
I needed to go full-in with God, and so I did. I prayed and gave God about 12 weeks for Him to tell me what His plan and purpose for my life was. Roughly 14 weeks later, I find myself writing this post. Rooted deep inside me, at an almost imperceptible level, I always knew that I should be working to spread God's word, furthermore, I always knew that I should help make a difference in the world and live to serve, not to be served. See, God had been talking to me for years, I just had voluntarily decided not to listen and postpone my call. So with that, I have set myself 2 goals: (#1) I am going to passionately work to show others just how amazing the God of the Bible is, and (#2) I am going to aim to one day have a network which I can use to serve others; that being by starting a non-profit or finding a way to have a positive impact in the life of others.
Our world is sick, our society moral standards are in decay, people are hurting. It is up to me and you to make the difference this world needs and serve the purpose for which we were created and brought into this world; God's purpose. Nowadays I see media channels infected with vanity and lust; there's this constant bombardment of "success standards" measured by how much money and luxury someone has. Many videos and blogs where you are taught "how to be rich" or "how to afford a brand new expensive car"; much people living off showing others how much wealth they have and I feel that this has created a driving force that makes people believe that life's purpose is to achieve maximum wealth. This just can't be further from the truth. Want to know your purpose in life and how to achieve true long-lasting life satisfaction? Start with God. He has a plan for you and He's just waiting for you to ask Him when and how to start.
The Bible is full of examples of God making great men and women from all sorts of backgrounds, cultures, and ideals. It doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter what your past has been, it doesn't matter what you've done to this point, God has a plan for you. Every morning you live to see the sun come up, is God giving you the opportunity to start fresh, to forgive and forget all of your past and reset.
Call to Action:
Before going to bed tonight, ask God to show you what your purpose in life is. He might've been telling you deep down all long and you might've been postponing it but hey... if you are reading this, is not too late.
God Bless You my friend! Until next one.
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