*This was a guest post written by George Teh from TheItDad.net. All opinions are 100% from George Teh.
This is by no means an attempt to convert, offend, or correct anyone who is of a different faith. It’s simply a testimony, my personal testimony, which I would like to share, of how I came to know God’s purpose for my life.
As far as I can remember, I’ve always believed that God existed (even at a very young age). My question in life has never been “Does God exist?”, but rather, “Why do I exist?”
For the longest time, I struggled with trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. My decisions were based on where the money was, what people suggested I should do, or what position I thought would get me the most respect from family and friends. For years, I was stuck in a position where I was constantly failing and trying again. I could recall so many times when I thought I had it figured out and I would be so motivated, then all of a sudden, I would find myself discouraged – realizing that I was wrong again. This was not the life I imagined for myself. I didn’t realize I needed a plan to become a BALLER! I watched as people whom I knew and grew up with graduate college and get into professional careers. Others just found something they loved to do and banked on it!
At times I told myself, it’s cool, my time will come, I’ll just wait and see what happens. Years passed – I got married, had kids, but the situation didn’t change. Going from job to job, being in and out of school, and many failed attempts at entrepreneurship can really hurt your self-esteem after a while. And just when I thought this was the only struggle I was going to have to deal with in life, the bad got worse. I never thought I could be broker than broke, but it happened. I won’t get into details this time around, but I will say, it was BAD! I hate to say it, but at the time, a part of me started to grow bitter towards God, and though I never spoke it out loud, I did find myself asking Him, “Did you create me just so I can struggle all my life?!”
Anyway, to make a long story short, would ruin the story, so I won’t. I will, however get straight to the point.
God is our creator and everything created has a purpose. God had a specific plan for my life, and the funny thing is, deep down inside I knew that. I was just too afraid to accept it. I was hoping I would find something on my own, be successful at it, and tell myself that it was God’s plan for me (knowing that it really wasn’t). I thought that if I convinced myself hard enough, I could maybe change God’s mind too. Of course, I was wrong. I realized that for me to find peace and be complete, I had to live to do His will. When an object is created for a purpose, and is used for something other than that purpose – it breaks, and that’s where I was. I was broken.
Here’s the turning point: hitting rock bottom and feeling broken was the best thing that’s ever happened to me! It was at this point I knew God was telling me to stop, listen, have faith and obey. He knew that unless I was broken and broke, I would not stop and listen. The thing with God is, there’s times where he does want us to give up. He wants us to give up, because sometimes that is the only way we’ll even consider talking to Him. In my situation, I had to come to a point where I had no other solution, no other choice, but to trust.
It’s because of this I now have peace with my life. I have learned to humble myself and let go of my own foolish desires, and because of that, God has given me a clear view of the plans He has for me. God knows us better than we know ourselves. I realize that giving up my own will is not a loss, but it’s gaining more than what I can ever imagine. Mark 8:36 says “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?”
God won’t ever short change us. His purpose is to give us a rich and abundant life, don’t ever think otherwise. Until the next time – God bless!
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