When Jay asked me to meet him for coffee, I could hear the distress in his voice. “What am I supposed to do?” he asked. “What’s my purpose in life?”

These are everyday, if not every minute, questions on college campuses and in various corners of our lives.

Karen asked herself the same questions as her first-grader marched off to the bus on the first day of school. Mike had five years under his belt in a job that seemed to be taking him nowhere. John couldn’t volunteer like he used to, and he often wondered if anyone would miss him if he didn’t show anyway.

We beg God to post his clear directions on some lighted billboard. We would even settle for a text message. “Just let me in on the plan,” we scream!

So what’s your story? Answers to the questions “What am I supposed to do” and “What is my purpose in life” are often revealed in your story! Why not take a closer look at what’s going on inside!

S—What are your strengths? Strengths are the things that you have always been good at doing. Maybe you have always been creative. Maybe you have always had a desire for organization.

T—List your topics. Who or what do you like to work with? Is it people? animals? numbers? steel? What is it that fascinates you?

O—Optimal conditions. What motivates you? Is it to fill the need of someone else? Is it the security of a structured routine? Maybe you work best under stress? Or do you like variety in your day-to-day affairs?

R—What about relationships? When you think back over the successes and satisfactions of life, how were you relating to people? Were you all alone, or were you on a team? If you were on a team, were you taking the lead, or were you following joyfully?

Y—What makes you say yes? When your strengths, optimal conditions, and relationships come together in such a way that makes you say yes, you are living out your story.
When you are living out your story, you are doing what God has created you to do. You are glorifying God.

We have heard Satan whisper, “It’s not good enough to be you. You need to be someone else.” Our culture entices us to be someone we are not. “I want to be like Mike.” “I wish I had her body.” We go to movies and imagine ourselves as the heroes. It seems that the hardest thing to do is to be ourselves!

The coolest thing about our story is it is wrapped inside his story from the very beginning.