What is your PURPOSE?

How do I truly know when I am seeking my purpose in life?

Writing this blog feels very full circle to me, so stick with me as I try to put the pieces of my mom brain together.  

My husband and I recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary (during a global pandemic!) and as I’ve been reflecting over the last decade, I have been wrestling with my purpose.  I always believed God was calling me to be a mother.  Now that I’m a mother of two, while I absolutely adore my children, I sometimes look in the mirror and wonder who the person is staring back at me.  In the midst of trying to understand my purpose, I have heard that still small voice telling me to get back to basics, multiple times, via multiple different ways.  I went into marriage with the firm belief that my marriage is one of my top three priorities in life, hands down.  But, in full disclosure, sometimes life happens and our priorities unknowingly at the time get twisted. In an attempt to get back to the basics, I’ve been making a conscious effort to read “Power of a Praying Wife” by Stormie Omartian (Way 1 God’s been hinting to me).   Within this book, I found a chapter on a man’s purpose which made me rethink my purpose as I was praying for my husband.

When my husband and I were dating, he introduced me to Needtobreathe, a rock band from South Carolina.  They have grown to have such a special place in my heart.  We went to our first NTB concert together when I was carrying our first child.  I recently came across a post in a NEEDTOBREATHE Facebook group that explained the reason behind their band name (Way 2 God’s been speaking to me).  Here it is in a nutshell from an interview with one of the members:

“We wanted to live and we felt purposed (there’s that word again!!) from the music that we made so that’s where the name came from.  It was a story that starts with Socrates and some of his students.  In the tale, a student asked Socrates, ‘How do I truly know when I am seeking my purpose in life?’.  Instead of answering the student verbally, Socrates took the student to the water and dunked his head in the water.  Then when he pulled him up and while the student was gasping for air and [Socrates] said, ‘When you want that purpose as badly as you need to breathe, that is when you know you are seeking after what’s right for your life”.

I read that quote on a day that I had a shockingly great Monday.  My kids really enjoy routine and we tend to take a break on that routine during the weekend, but that means come Monday when my husband goes back to work and we get back into our routine, we are a pleasant combination of a train wreck and a hott mess.  So this specific Monday, we went to the park and had lunch.  I just really enjoyed my kids that day.  I took time to laugh, play, be silly, discipline in love, teach, correct, and nourish.  It was like I was breathing in one of my significant purposes - to embrace the sometimes messy motherhood moments and pour into my children.  To resist the temptation to think that motherhood is a constraint on my life, but instead a catalyst (Way 3 God’s been speaking to my heart - Thank you MOPS “Decide to Rise” 2020 Theme!).

Then today, I went to my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting and received an article titled “There’s Space for Purpose” (Way 4 God has nudged me about purpose).  The author, Bethany Howard, referenced a verse from the Bible that I don’t think I’ve ever read - Psalm 145:16 “You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing”.   She then goes on to say “Why would he (God) create, water, and grow passion and purpose for it all to be ignored during the intense years of mothering?  The way we live it all out varies in different chapters of our lives, of course, but we should not deny our purpose in any chapter”.  

I’m not sure I’ve discovered my purpose in writing this post, or have made any sense for that matter, but I believe God gave you and I purpose, and that purpose needs to be lived out.  I know that Motherhood is purpose in my life.  That doesn’t mean that my purpose of motherhood has to be at the expense of all the other beautiful passions and desires God has placed on my heart (a constraint), but maybe my purpose in motherhood can be the catalyst to thrust me forward to show my children how to glorify God with the life you’re given.  Because, life is short.  A vapor. 

So, I’ll be something I’m normally not, blunt.

Are you living out your purpose(s)? 

Be well, 

Ashley

MEET THE AUTHOR

Ashley Fornshell is a woman on a whole-body wellness mission. Mind. Body. Soul. The focus of her journey has been on using her faith in Christ to cultivate a positive self-worth mindset and overcome food addiction. She and her husband do life in Southwest, Ohio with their two kiddos. She spends her days navigating motherhood, ministering to other moms, writing, and encouraging others on their wellness journey.