Today’s letter is a visual letter… I highly suggest that you listen to this letter by clicking play on the voiceover to get the full experience.
Two Sunday’s ago, in (letter 11)… I showed you something I call the Purpose Journey Map™. I told you that I believe there is a sequence we all move through in life on our way to becoming who we were created to be:
Then I asked you to look at the map and try to pinpoint which spot you thought you were currently at in your life.
And I said if you wanted me to write a letter to go deeper into my PJM comment “more map”. I honestly just thought a few people would connect with it. But then the comments started coming in… and the response was overwhelming. As I started to read each new comment that came in daily. I realized that you weren’t just asking for another letter… you’re not just looking for encouragement. You are looking for coordinates for your life… latitude and longitude.
So today, I’m writing to you … because I have a strange feeling that somewhere on this map you are about to find the explanation for the season of life you are currently in. And maybe what you’ve been struggling to give language to or the feeling that you are just lost… is actually a location spot on the map.
When God created the Heavens and the Earth… He was not looking at a map. I believe He was revealing one for us to use on our journey. He was able to see and speak what was not… into existence. God was not creating by accident… He separated, He named, He ordered and He even blessed. What He does in Genesis, is where this map comes from.
WHAT A MAP ACTUALLY DOES
I won’t insult your intelligence and waste time explaining what a map “is”… but I will take a moment to break down what a map does. You see a map is not just a instrument you use to get somewhere. A map does not move you. But rather… it actually locates you. That is the first thing I need you to understand.
Too many people in history have owned the most accurate map in the world and still died lost. Because many people have used it mainly to pinpoint where they are going and not to identified where they are currently. A map cannot walk for you. It cannot stop you from taking the wrong road. However, it does give you something incredibly powerful:
Context.
The very first thing we see in Genesis 1 is a position. Think about that little red dot on the mall map that says “you are here”. Somebody has to make that clear to you where you are standing… or the rest of it will just be lines, names and boxes. It’s the same with your phone. Before it can give you one turn, it has to locate you.
God does the same thing in one verse: “In the beginning”… that is the starting point... that is the spot. “The Heavens and The Earth”… that is the place… that is the location. So basically in one line you get a when and where. Not a single direction on where He is going with this creation yet. God establishes where you are before He says one word about where you are headed.
The average person using a map misses this entirely… all because they are trying to reach their destination fast. And when you can’t identify where you are… you start thinking locations are your identities.
But I need you to hear me clearly… You are not where you are.
1. Disadvantage
2. ADAPTATION
3. HIDDEN ABILITY
I’ll write you next Sunday with the next three spots on the map.
Gold,
P.S. Spend some time really looking at the first three spots on the map and see where you are stuck.
Leave a comment and tell me what was your biggest take away from todays letter.
I have often minimized my knowledge and giftings because I couldn’t believe that people did not know the information I did. It’s easy for me so others should know it as well. But I have found out in my time on earth that no one is like me and the insight and abilities I have, were given to me by God and I have the advantage because of what He put inside of me. Great revelation, I love this purpose map process! Thank you!😊
Let me mention that this write-up is so detailed and profound that just one slide of the infographics a whole master class
Firstly, I love that this 13th letter was posted on the 13th day and I came by it within the 13th hour mark in my time zone.
Definitely prophetic.
13 is the number of the prophetic (biblically and especially for me)
I knew then that I must read this in detail, study every jot and tittle to find out what God wanted to say to me.
Things I loved and that spoke to me
1. Disadvantage
a) I love how you broke down disadvantage and very clearly described how something could start in a disadvantage but could actually be heading somewhere different. I’ve always known this truth but the infographic painted it out like a journey and even made the disadvantage almost seem like an advantage. I truly agree. Whilst reading it, God reminded me of my own life 13 years ago when I was sent to a village. I did everything in my power to be deployed another city all effort field and then I asked the question: “God what are you wanting me to see here and one has all my efforts failed”? That was the right question. And BOOM! 13 years later today my life is a whole testimony of grace.
b) I especially love God’s response to the chaos. God did not wait around wondering why this chaos was too much like this. He immediately spoke and order appeared. This was profound. And inspired me to immediately stand up in my prayer room and respond to certain circumstances and restored order. I can do what God does.
1. On Adaptation:
a) I loved this statement on the infographic- You don’t know which ordinary ability is waiting for an extraordinary moment. This is powerful. There’s always going to be the right time. Just reminded of certain things God told me about, certain opportunities he’s brought my way that I’m still wondering why it happened till today. Those opportunities were huge. And the outcomes were not what I thought the magnitude should be. God has said to me - “At the right time”. You’re write up here just reinforced that for me.
b) the condition created the calling. I really loved this one , it reminded me of how God would use our own stories as our purposes later. In June, a brother came to our school and by some stroke of luck - we asked him to support a young boy with brain disability during the time they will be living in the host hotel and the program team had gone home. I later found out that for a period of eight years, his wife had passed through the same brain condition. He cared for her and she got well. It was now very obvious why God would select him to care for this boy with brain condition. That’s a pointer to his life calling. It’s a long story but I will just stop here because of length.
3) On the Summary slide
Sometimes the very thing that looks like a problem can be a set up:
Indeed just like when I was posted to that village - I never knew that my whole purpose in life was tied to the one year that I spent there - and the things that happened from there led to me being hosted by the President of one of the most developed nations on earth - just to learn more about someone of the activities which I started in that village. and many more. All these happened because I stayed on in that place of chaos.
Thank you again for the beautiful piece as usual !