This morning my eldest daughter Grace got on a plane to leave home for 18 months. She is serving as a missionary for our church teaching the people of Peru about Jesus Christ and we are thrilled she has chosen to do this.
I always knew this day was coming. This day has come after years of planning and preparation. What she is doing isn't an easy choice but completely the right choice for her.
I know this is the perfect journey for her to continue to grow and to develop into the woman she needs to be. Doing this journey, she will experience a lot of discomforts, she will be stretched and the Lord will teach her about her strengths and weaknesses
Her blessings will be immense, the gift of dedicating 18 months to the Lord will bless her life beyond measure.
It is a funny thing being a mom. You dedicate your life and all your skills, talent and time into these little humans with hopes you helping create a resilient human being.
Your role as a parent is to give them the skills to live on their own and create their own life.
So I have done my job. So why I'm a feeling not just sadness but grief?
I thought I would be more ready for this season. I knew I would be sad but I didn't realize I would experience grief.
Part of my grief is in the missing of her, but mostly it's for this season to be over. I have loved being her mom. But in the future she will need me less, my role will be redefined.
This has caused me to ponder what is my purpose in this next season of my life and I have come to the conclusion that no matter what season you are in, your purpose should always be GROWTH.
Grace will have immense growth over the next 18 months. She will put herself in new situations that will cause her discomfort, but she will have joy in learning new things. She will gain new confidence in her abilities.
Just because I'm 49 and not moving to Peru doesn't mean I can't experience growth.
In fact, I have realized that this is one of the secrets to life. To create experiences that make you grow.
My growth will depend on how brave I am willing to be. Am I willing to be vulnerable? Be willing to experience discomfort on purpose. To try things that are not in my comfort zone.
In the next 18 months, my impossible goals are to learn Spanish and to grow my coaching business by helping women learn how to have delight in being the girlfriend to the man they married. To learn to love themselves and their marriage.
In the process of building this business and learning a new language, I will struggle and struggle again, until I get it right. I will feel vulnerable and discomfort a lot. But I am choosing this on purpose.
The struggle is what makes you great. There is no great business or product that doesn't struggle. It is how they respond to the struggle that makes them great.
I want you to think about your plans for the next 18 months. Do they include discomfort on purpose, big goals? If not, I challenge you to pick an impossible goal.
Go all in. Follow my daughter's Grace example. Be excited about the next 18 months of new things, discomfort and opportunities for growth.
In 18 months time, you will be amazed at what you accomplished, Then you will need to pick a new impossible goal. No matter what season you are, the secret of a fulfilling life is growth, and growth is only obtained by your willingness to struggle and to fail.
So I challenge you to pick discomfort on purpose, you won't regret it!
"Your purpose should always be growth." Wow. I needed to read that today! So exactly true!
Just vented to my husband about a situation with a family member. As I was talking, it became less and less about what had happened and the blame game. I started to realize what was really bugging me was that I didn't show up the way I wanted. Which was leading to all kinds of "How should I handle this kind of thing better?" (And guilt)
But framing the situation in terms of my growth, I've dropped the how, the needing to know, the desperation to have a plan. Instead, what remains is simply "Who do I want to be?" And let's ask he…