Where Do I Belong?

Where Do I Belong?

Isaiah 49:15-17“Can a mother forget the infant at her breast, walk away from the baby she bore?But even if mothers forget, I’d never forget you—never.Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walls you’re rebuilding are never out of my sight.Your builders are faster than your wreckers. The demolition crews are gone for good.Look up, look around, look well! See them all gathering, coming to you?As sure as I am the living God”—God’s Decree—

It is so easy to get lost and wonder where you belong, especially after a tragedy. Loosing your place of purpose can be the result of several different things from depression to loneliness to loss to feeling inadequate in a calling, job or position we have been called to. We all experience it at time to time, but there are some who tend to live there with a loss of hope.So where do I belong and why do I feel so out of place?

In order to answer this question you must reflect on a few things first. What am I made for and which direction do I need to take? You are made for a purpose... to glorify God in everything you do!
Now as for direction we assume that it has just one or two definitions, but imagine if it actually has two opposing definitions? Too often we think of the definition of ‘direction’ simply as a path forward or instruction of how to do something, but Webster has another interesting definition to ‘direction’; it is the address scribed on the outside of a package or building, the description of a destiny. It is too easy to be concentrated on the path that we forget the destiny God has inscribed on us from day one.

Isaiah talks about this in Isaiah 49. He mentions that God wrote you on the back of the hand. One may not think this is significant, but think about it this way. When I put my watch on I do so where my watch is face up on the back of my hand. In doing so, when I drive the back of my hand faces out and I can quickly see my watch to be reminded what time it is at a quick glance. Likewise God has you scribed on the back of His hand, like my watch, to remind Him at a glance of where you are.

The greatest problem we have as humans is the ability to be overcome by our circumstances that we forget the destination we have set out for. Looking back I am amazed with my parents. Here it is being from a large family we did many road trips whether it was to see my aunt and uncle in Boston or the beach in Florida. This is why I am impressed. Packing up to 9 people in a car to drive hundreds of miles away without tv or any other activities but maybe a coloring book or Etch a Sketch. We as kids would be excited about the destination but didn’t understand the journey.

To help us better our parents would buy an atlas so we could understand the journey better. Little did I understand how important the map was until I was the one in the driver’s seat. You see it is easy to cheer on the destination when you aren’t the one behind the steering wheel. I didn’t understand what my dad went through driving straight through front Akron, Ohio to Orlando, Florida with the packed car until I was the one day driving the car.

When I was the one responsible for the destination I learned there were a lot of distractions and pitfalls. On a family vacation it may be the kids yelling in the back seat or fatigue sitting on your shoulders to where the last 100 miles you didn’t even remember. The place where God has called us is much like that family vacation though. When we are younger we are excited about where God is calling us and where we feel we need to be and just can’t understand why others don’t feel the same. We have our map book in hand then realize we are in the driver’s seat. We know where we are to be going but have been distracted by the yelling in the background where the mission seems to fade into the horizon. Maybe it is driving down the same road where it seems nothing has changed and we lost track of the past 100 miles simply because we are tired or used to just keep on where we have been.

There is a simple truth though we must keep in mind. Just like any major highway we must on occasion look for that rest stop, stretch our legs and relieve ourselves from those things that are weighing us down and making us uncomfortable. Once we do that we need to break open that map book and see where we are and where we are going.

Remember, where you belong is less about the journey and more about the destination. If we allow our focus to be centered on the pitfalls and detours along the way we may find ourselves turning around and giving up on the destination God has made for us.

I encourage you, if you wonder where you belong, to pull out your map book and remember some of those promises you once had and look at the path you have taken so far and how much more you have to get where you belong. Remember God wrote you on the back of His hand so when He is carrying you He can see you at a glance and know where you are is in His perfect timing!