(these posts are companion posts to the book God in the ICU)

Chapter One: A Sense of Destiny.

Psalm139: 15,16 “My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of the came to be.”

Quote from God in the ICU: “When I was old enough to understand, and heard them recall the story, (of my miraculous survival) it engendered in me a sense of destiny. God had spared me for a purpose.”

In the retirement complex in which I now live, I have two good friends who live vastly different lives. Dave is lean and bright eyed with an infectious enthusiasm that shines from his bearded face. His zeal for life is contagious. When we pop around spontaneously for a visit, he and his equally dynamic wife Katie greet us with delight, but often they’re away on some adventure, or helping out at the church or with friends in need. One day a friend of theirs, whose wife was away, mentioned that the thing he hated most about his wife being absent was the fact he had to make his own bed in the morning. Dave and Katie knocked on his door at an early hour. When their sleepy friend opened up, they bounced into his house and announced, “We’ve come to make your bed!”

My other friend keeps to himself. He is affable and responds with grace and a sense of humour when we pop over. Yet he’s content to sit by himself day after day in front of the TV. He seems prepared to live out the rest of his days this way, not wanting to die, but without any zest for life.

What is the difference in these friends? Dave and Katie have a sense of destiny. They realise God has a plan for them, and fulfilling that as best they can is energising and life-giving.

Chosen by God

Our sense of destiny starts with an understanding of who we are. It was as I heard the story of how I had miraculously survived a severe malaria illness that should have killed me as a small baby, that I sensed I’d been spared by God for a purpose .

What about you? Do you know, deep in your heart that you have been chosen by God for something especially designed for you? No matter the circumstances of your birth or upbringing, you are important to God, and here for a reason.

God says, in Ephesians 2:10, “We are God’s workmanship (poema — from which the word poem comes — a work of art) created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.”

Sometimes, as I describe in God in the ICU, you might be aware of what that purpose is from early on. At other times it is more difficult. May I suggest a few things that will help?

Finding your destiny

• Firstly, as you seek to find it, be other-centred. Jesus has been called “A Man for others.” His plan for you will be in line with His character. So, whether you have a passion for entrepreneurship, for public speaking, for art or engineering — whatever it is, check out how it can be used to benefit others and show them the love of Christ. Let that motivate you. My dream as a doctor was fuelled by pictures of myself at the bedside of the sick, bringing healing to them.
• Secondly, follow your passion. God has made each of us uniquely, with our own aspirations. Psalm 37:4 has a double meaning when it says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” It could mean that what you desire, He will give to you, but I wonder whether it is truer to say, as you delight in Him, He will put the desires in your heart that He wishes you to have to fulfill your destiny.
• Thirdly, follow your giftings. God equips us for our destiny. I’m writing this with some reservation, because I know of many people who were terrified to speak in public, but, in following God’s calling, became eloquent and pursuasive. However, that, for the most part, was not their main calling but enhanced their vocation as God equipped them when they stepped out in obediance.
• Lastly, what doors does God seem to be opening for you? Are you aware of them? Is He shutting doors and opening others?

Whether you feel it or not, you have been hand-picked by God for a purpose. There’s nothing more life-giving than walking into that.

Further Bible reading:

1 Corinthians 7:17 Philippians 2:1-4 1 Peter 2:9-10