Are you serving your purpose where you are? Did you just happen to live where you live or has there been a plan, a purpose, a desire to be where you are?
Or do you feel strongly that even though it may not have been your choice but where you are is where you are meant to be because you have opportunities there to make a contribution, to grow, and to serve your purpose?
We may not be able to live in our dream location or community but look for two main criteria:
1. Does the place help you to grow and fulfill your purpose as a person?
2. Can you make a meaningful contribution to the community?
I believe that if those two criteria are fulfilled, we are in a good position to live a fulfilled life. A wise man once said: We can have a fulfilled life without all our dreams being fulfilled.
A year after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I heard an interview on the radio with a woman who was forced to get out of New Orleans because the house she lived in with her children became uninhabitable. After Katrina many people were forced to move away and for this single mother it turned out to be a great blessing. She got away from the poverty stricken and crime infested neighborhood she used to live in but could not get away from for various reasons. Then Katrina hit and she had no choice but to move away. Moving to another state into a smaller, much quieter town meant a new beginning and a much better future for her and her children. Letting go of the old enabled her to embrace something new.
Do you live in a house, in a neighborhood, a town or an area of the country that you feel is bad for you and/or your family? Is it an environment that has negative pulls, that is dangerous, that is harmful to your children, that is harmful to your health? If any of this applies to you, you may need to give it some serious thought on what you can do to get away. It may take time, but start thinking about it, start doing some research in the library or online to find out where you could go. And get some help, chances are you may not be able to do it on your own. Ask some volunteers in a non-profit organization, ask a social worker, just keep looking and do not give up. Even if your uncomfortable situation has become your comfort zone in a way. Let go and take action!
Some people are in a completely different situation. They live in a very nice place, but they live beyond their means, making them the slaves to their property. Finding a place with a lower cost of living may take the pressure off to have to generate the income (or dual income) needed to live in the hip and trendy place. Ask yourself: does it serve the needs of my family, or am I just keeping up with the Joneses?
As with the single mother from New Orleans, letting go of your old environment can mean a huge improvement in your live. But why wait for a catastrophic event? Why waste time? When I was in that downward spiral, I had no time to waste, not even seconds. Had I held on to the controls on that plane any longer, I would have run right into the ground. Maybe waiting to let go in your situation would make things only harder and more difficult. If where you currently live does not meet your needs or is way beyond your means, consider letting go and moving on to a more suitable place.
Start taking steps to get you closer to where God wants you to be. Cry out to Him in prayer and ask Him for His will in your life.
When considering a move, remember the old saying: “You take the weather with you!”. You may think you need to move away, and things will get better. Be sure there is not something else that you need to let go of first.
Ask yourself: “Why do I want to get away from it all?” When you have the answer to that question ask “why?” again, then ask “why?” to that answer and so on. Ask this as many times as it takes until you find the motives of your heart at the deepest level.
Examining ourselves, our mindset, our motives, our attitudes, our level of forgiveness, our level of gratitude, our willingness to serve and to make sacrifices, our ability to embrace a struggle, which makes us grow…..all those may reveal that the location we live in is not the problem, but the way we think.