Being lost is such a scary feeling.
I remember being lost in the hilly one-way streets of Athens, Ohio a few days after we had moved to town. The panic started to rise in my throat until it reached my eyes and flowed out as tears. I pulled over and called my husband at work. Repeatedly. Until he finally answered.
His voice was calm and anchored me back in reality.
“Where are you?” I don’t know.
“What can you see around you?” Miller’s Chicken.
“Okay. I’ll stay on the phone and talk you through how to get home.”
It turns out Miller’s Chicken was exactly three turns away from my neighborhood.
I wasn’t lost. I just felt lost.
I was talking to a friend the other day who shared that she feels lost. She’s not sure of her purpose, if she’s doing what she’s on this earth to do. She thinks she might be too inwardly focused and not helping people in the way God intended.
Another friend listened.
When the other friend spoke up, she acknowledged the discomfort of uncertainty. Then she said something powerful.
She said, “I think you think that you aren’t fulfilling your purpose, but in reality, you are doing what you’re meant to do in life. You don’t realize how many people’s lives you touch and how many people you help, just by talking to them. Please don’t cut yourself short.”
That’s what I want to say to you today.
If you are feeling lost, maybe a bit untethered, don’t cut yourself short. The world appreciates the kindness you bring – the kindness you probably don’t even realize you are showing.
Anchor yourself in the knowledge that we don’t have to do everything or be everything to make a difference. We might think we are miles from our destination when we’re only three short turns away. Or perhaps we are already there, in the exact spot where God is planning to use us.