Inside of every living thing, God has planted a seed.  It is His intended purpose for that seed to grow, mature, and produce life.  Just as that is true in nature, it is true in us as well.  Planted deep inside of who you are, is a seed that contains your destiny and a piece of God’s glory; a seed that when nurtured, will grow to produce fruit that will extend beyond yourself and your life.

As an Interaction Dynamics Specialist, I teach people to understand how they are wired and who they were created to be.  Nothing brings me greater joy than to see the light-bulbs of understanding go on in people as I teach, train, and write.  I know that is God’s intended purpose for me.  It is what I was designed to do!  And, when I’m doing what I was made to do, I feel like Eric Little in the movie, Chariots of Fire, when he said, “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure!”

Over the last few months I have written articles to help you begin to catch a glimpse of your design.  I hope by now that you are becoming aware of who you are and how you are wired.  Are you outgoing and focused on getting things done?  Are you outgoing, but have people as your focus?  Maybe you are focused on people, but tend to be more reserved.  Or, perhaps you are reserved and prefer to get your work done alone.  Whatever you are, you have been designed that way for a reason and what you are intended to do will best be expressed through your unique personality.

Are you aware that no one else in the whole wide world thinks or responds to life in exactly the same way you do?  Your family background, environmental influences, education, and life experiences, coupled with your personality make up, give you a uniquely different view of life.  Everything about you colors the way you process information and experiences.  That’s why it really is true that there is not now, nor will there ever be, anyone just like you.  So, then, it is also true that no one can fulfill God’s purpose or reflect His glory the way you can.

Some of you may be thinking, “Well, I don’t know what I was made to do.”  I believe that you may find a clue to that by looking at what has been most thwarted in your life.  Did you have big dreams to do grand things and accomplish large goals only to have them squashed or be told not to be ridiculous?  Were you made to feel that you couldn’t do those things?  Deep down inside you knew you were made for big things, but something made you doubt that you really could.  Let me tell you something – you really were made to accomplish big things, lead people, pioneer, discover.  The seed of those dreams was planted in you when you were born.  No matter what anyone else may have told you or made you to feel, you can now choose to let that seed germinate, take root and grow!

Were you an excited, talkative child who was “shushed” all the time and whose enthusiasm was not appreciated at home or at school?  You were created to talk and incite others to action.  You were designed to inspire.  You were crafted to use your voice and many words to encourage others.  Celebrate your design by allowing who you naturally are to shine as you were intended to do!  When you do, you are reflecting the glory of God’s encouraging nature.

It could be that you are a gentle and tender soul whose greatest desire is to help others.  Chances are that your softness has been interpreted as weakness.  You may have been told that you needed to toughen up, get over your feelings and quit being so sensitive.  May I tell you a secret?  The gentleness and tenderness of who you are reflects to the world that side of God’s character.  You may often be misunderstood as weak, but you have a quiet strength and level-headedness in the face of chaos that the rest of us need!

You may be a quiet thinker whose approach to life is cautious, careful and serious.  There is a good possibility that your many questions and insatiable desire to know the why of things have not been given credence.  Those who have a lighter view of life may have told you that you need to “lighten up” and not take things so seriously.  You may have been constantly pushed into social situations that were extremely uncomfortable for you.  What you need to know is that your purpose and destiny can be found within your unique take on life.  Many of the things that have been discovered about how things work have been found by people like you.  The deep and mysterious aspects of life are understood because of someone’s questioning and serious mind.

Let me tell you what I am NOT saying in all of this – that you can use your personality as an excuse for doing or not doing something; that you can use it as a weapon to inflict pain on someone else; that you can use it to pressure someone else into doing something you want them to do.  And, I certainly don’t believe that understanding the personality information is the only thing there is to understand about life.

What I AM saying is that your destiny – what you were made to do – will be found in how you were designed and that until you deeply understand who you were made to be, your purpose will be hard to find.  Don’t be afraid to take a look at those areas where you may have been hurt, misunderstood or suppressed.  They may hold clues for you and be the keys that will unlock your destiny!  Step into God’s purpose for you and be all that He created you to be.  Who you are was meant to be celebrated!