Destiny

At the age of twelve, the word “destiny” began to fascinate me. I think Billy Shakespeare did that to me. I began thinking about it in a nuanced way, intertwined with the idea that we all have free will and always have a choice. The word “destiny” then sort of was replaced by “purpose.”

I saw the trailer for the Napoleon movie. I must watch it. In my adolescence, Napoleon was someone who fascinated me (still does, who am I kidding?). As a true francophile, I read a lot about him. I remember I once sent in a question about him to a live Amazing Facts conference on Bible prophecy and world history.

Napoleon is flawed like any human who gasps this air we share, but what I have always found interesting about him was his sense of destiny. He was clear on who he was and where he was going. He was unstoppable. (The man kidnapped the pope, for crying out loud!)

I am drawn to people who feel purpose deeply, and I think it’s because I feel it, too. (Probably sounds odd, and no, I am not saying I am gonna leave some sort of footprint like Napoleon). This isn’t something we talk much about, and this morning, God nudged me to listen to a message. I needed to hear it. I heard words that I resonated with deeply because I believed and held them as my own personal belief even before I heard them from someone else. I was busy making tea, when I heard them spoken through my headphones, and I literally stopped in my tracks. I blinked. I smiled.

This mindset has been present for me in my own life, and I wanted to share this quote because I have never heard it articulated so beautifully. Leave it to Erwin McManus to do that.

I believe the Creator has instilled in each of us a sense of purpose. I think in scripture it is clear that many were born with a specific purpose– look at the prophets and kings. And then, you have stories of those who run from their purpose. Look at Samson, Jonah…

As William Wilberforce says in Amazing Grace about God finding him– “Do you have any idea how inconvenient that is?”

You have a story like Saul, when he runs into Jesus and is converted to Paul. This changed the course of his entire life. If we are humble and willing, if we don’t run and waste the purpose, God finds us and transforms us to do His great works, and often, that changes history.

The quote below explains my magnetism to McManus. This common thread sews us together. I once did a Bible study based on his book Wide Awake, and I got feedback that a lot of people didn’t connect to it. Be real; life isn’t this grand or dreamy, I was told. But the life of the author says otherwise.

It’s tough to articulate this knowledge because you can end up sounding downright delusional, but this has been the best way I have seen how:

[This quote is transcribed from the Mind Shift Masterclass by Erwin McManus.]

“I had an insane sense of destiny.

I’m making $10-12,000 a year. Kim and I are sleeping on the floor when we were first married. No one saw any potential or talent or gifting in me. I didn’t talk about it out loud because it would be arrogant. I didn’t talk about it out loud because it would seem like I was detached from reality.

I had an insane sense of destiny.

I believed that I was put on this planet to make a difference; to leave a mark in human history. I believed that God called me out to do something that was gonna be breathtaking, extraordinary, unexplicable, and I carried it every day in my heart.

So, here I was living the most seemingly insignificant life. Didn’t matter ’cause it wasn’t insignificant because I was on a journey. It’s not something you really talk about because it seems so inappropriate, but you couldn’t take that away from me. I believed I was created to do something that mattered in the world.

No one else is responsible to help me fulfill my destiny– that was on me. There was this tension of destiny, of calling, to do something God called me to but of personal responsibility, ownership. That this is something I have to create from personal responsibility and agency.

You have to make the decision that you are going to live your life as if you are unstoppable.”

I carry it in my heart every day, too. I hope you do, too. Be unstoppable.