Do you often feel empty and despondent? If so, you are not alone. Most people battle those feelings at some point in life, especially after a significant loss. If you recently suffered bereavement, divorce or another loss, don’t lose hope. Eventually, as you heal, those feelings will pass.
Similar feelings can be triggered by major life transitions such as a career change, children leaving home for college, and retirement.
If those scenarios do not apply to you, your problem may be as simple as no vision of your life purpose. As the writer of Proverbs wrote, “With no vision, people perish.”
"Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for," said psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl, author of the bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning. He wrote that the fundamental drive in human existence is the need to find meaning in life. Frankl's theories were heavily influenced by his personal experiences of suffering and loss in Nazi concentration camps. He believed that self-fulfillment is a byproduct of attempting to fulfill a larger meaning and purpose, even during times of intense stress and suffering.
How do you know if your life lacks purpose? Here are some of the symptoms:
- Feelings of sadness, emptiness, frustration, anger,or irritability that are not caused by clinical depression, major loss, physical illness, psychological disorders, or burnout
- Attempts to fill the void with excessive time spent on meaningless activities
- Preoccupation with materialism
- Excessive eating or alcohol consumption
- Overwork
- Avoidance of solitude
- Lack of passion and motivation
- Chronic discontent
What's the solution? For me, purpose is found in relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. I believe that everyone of us is designed for a life of vision and purpose. You were never meant to merely survive. You were created for a destiny – one that will influence the world for good. That destiny begins to unfold the moment you are born again through Jesus Christ, for at that very moment, God begins to recreate the divine image in you. Through Christ, you are provided all you need to reach your divine potential.
The Bible says, “For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10 AMP).
Physical, mental and emotional limitations can’t abort your purpose. Adversity can’t abort your purpose. Other people can’t abort your purpose. The only person who can abort your purpose is you.
“You are a child of God—your playing small does not serve the world,” said Nelson Mandela. “There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory that is within us. And as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
Ask God to open your heart to a vision for what He could do through your life. Decide now to stop holding back. Dare to step out of your comfort zone. Decide to stop listening to the voices of guilt, tradition, negativity, and fear that have paralyzed you from stepping out to pursue a dream. Instead, listen to the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit beckoning you to come out of your cocoon and dream big, expand your boundaries, break free of inner prisons, and become the woman or man you were created to be.
Would you like to know more about discovering and living your purpose? Read my award-winning book, Making Your Dreams Your Destiny.
Do you want to know how you can have peace with God?
Read here
CLINICAL DEPRESSION
Includes information on: major depressive disorder, bi-polar disorder, anxiety disorders, and post-partum depression.
NON-CLINICAL DEPRESSION
Includes information on depressed mood stemming from chronic stress and adrenal exhaustion, painful life events, childhood trauma, female hormones, mental and emotional habits, and lack of a life purpose.
