Someone has made an investment in you!: discover your purpose and find your joy.

One day a famous designer saw His creation, an old broken down car, in a driveway, and the car appeared to have been broken for a very long time. So the Creator of the car walked over to it and asked:

"Why are you just sitting here and not fulfilling your purpose?"

The car was shocked:

"I don't have a purpose. I'm just a broken-down piece of junk and I've been sitting here for years!"

The Creator looked the car over, checked under the hood, and said: "You are broken; however, I can fix you almost as good as new."

"I've been fixed before and I keep breaking down again, its best to just leave me broken."

"I disagree, said the designer. "Other people may have fixed you but since I created you I hold the original blueprints to your design. I know every intricate part of you."

Finally, the designer puts in a new engine, a brand new transmission, and cleaned the car to look good as new. "Drive! the designer ordered the car, for you have been fixed!"

"Oh no! said the car full of fear, I can't drive, I'm not capable of it!"

So finally the designer gets inside the car, sticks the key in the ignition, and to the amazement of the car, it starts driving.

"Weee!... the car cries with joy."I'm driving!...I'm driving! I can't believe it... it feels so natural!"

"Of course, it feels natural, the designer sighs. It's what I've been telling you all along. You're a car, and I know you're a car because I designed you with my very own hands. And driving feels natural because driving is what I created you to do."

There is meaning to your life and everything has a purpose. Sometimes finding the direction that will lead you on the path to purpose can be difficult. When we are young we're full of ideas, dreams and ambition. When we become older, and if we have lost our way, came across disappointments, or became a skeptic, finding our way can be difficult.

Life has a way of killing our dreams, but if you're still waking up every day there's a reason. You may feel hopeless, but your situation is not helpless. Life is not through with you yet and neither is your Creator.

If you've become disconnected with yourself, joy may be missing from your life. You may even try to replace "joy" with things or people; the problem is no one understands you like your Creator.

The designer holds the blueprints to who you are. He knows who you are, what you are capable of, and why you're not operating in your creation. Thus, He understands how joy may be missing from your life, and more importantly He understands why.

We were put on this earth to accomplish great things; a highly-intelligent Creator wouldn't waste his time on junk.

"I know the plans I have towards you, declares the Lord."plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope, and a future."

Jeremiah, tells God he is too young to speak to the nation. But God tells him " Don't tell me you're too young".

Jeremiah 1:5. "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of thee womb, I sanctified thee; and I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations."

As in the case of Jeremiah, we too have come into the world with a purpose; We were a vision of God's before we were ever brought forth thus, we are known by God even if He isn't known by us. sometimes we feel we're not capable of such greatness because as in the case of the broken car, some of us don't understand who we are until we hear it from God.

When I found God I was a broken soul. When He began to tell me about myself and what I would be doing, as in the case of Jeremiah and the broken car, I began to tell God I couldn't do those things, and it took me years to step out on faith. I felt God would impose some impossible task on me, and then force me to comply with things I felt I was incapable of doing.

Imagine my surprise! Imagine my joy, when I understood that God was not going to force me to do anything but was simply telling me what I would be doing once I was operating in my purpose. The designer is the only one who can fix you when you are broken. He holds the blueprint to your unique and one of a kind design. He possesses the tools that are made only for you.

If you wake up every day just going through the motions. If you feel empty and feel like there is no meaning or purpose to your life, then you are wrong. There is a reason why you keep waking up every day. Regardless if you are happy or sad you are still waking up for a reason it's up to you to find out why.

People who are constantly knocked down in life become too afraid to get up again. We see these people all the time. They're the one's we see homeless on the street, sub-coming to drugs or alcohol, or prostitution.

We don't know their situation, but we do see the results. When I speak to people who have fallen, what I tell them is this: "Falling down is only tragic if you choose to stay down. The best thing about falling is, there is no other way to go but up!"

Your situation is how you see it. You can choose to see it as a downfall, or see it as an opportunity for restructure. Many successful people have fallen down in life, but what made them winners and not "losers" is... they chose to get back up again.

They didn't give up. They didn't give in. They were determined to prove to themselves and others they could do what they set out to do. Because of that attitude many people who were once homeless have become millionaires.

They're many famous people who have claimed they were once homeless, but they had a purpose. They didn't give up and they didn't give in and through their purpose- they discovered joy. These stars allegedly once slept in their car, homeless shelters, and bus stations but today they are worth millions:

1. Sylvester Stallone
2. Hallie Berry
3. Steve Harvey
4. Debbie Reynolds
5. Tyler Perry
6. Phil McGraw
7. Kelsey Grammer
8. Drew Carey

These stars knew their purpose in life. And even though they came across obstacles, they didn't allow it to deter them. The difference between them and the average person is the key that brings success...determination!

When you're driven by purpose you are focused in a way that may be consuming. Unfortunately, for other's, if they are not in that peripheral vision, they may feel left out. If someone was to tell you there was a check waiting for you on 82nd st. you wouldn't look backward. You wouldn't look sideways; you would be heading to that destination with a single-minded purpose.

It's the same with life's purpose. The only difference is with spiritual purpose you don't have directions on how to get there, only these four thing's...

1. vision
2. determination
3. drive
4. faith

Thankfully, you do have a spiritual guide, and adviser, who will guide you in your purpose once your will, and the will for your life, become aligned with the universe A wise thing to remember is intellect, will only take you so far, and eventually you have to step out on faith. If you take too long trying to connect dots together or waiting for everything to make sense, you may never run your race. The thing with purpose is it will never make sense to you if you are using your own wisdom to understand the vision and not the Creators.

When someone is hurting the first thing we feel compelled to do is coddle them. Sympathy can turn into hindering, and hindering leads to enabling. When someone is always there to "clean up the messes" they distract that person from depending on God to depending on them.

All life form have an expiration date. As much as we love someone we should not and cannot be there for them all the time. We find ourselves frustrated when we try everything in our power to help someone and fail. Hurting people cannot properly articulate what's wrong. It's a compilation of disappointments, let downs, and pain that has formed into a huge massive ball only God can unravel.

In Acts 3:3-11. Peter and John went up to the temple to pray and there was a man, lame from his mother's womb, who would lay daily panhandling for aims. And Peter says:

"Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!" And immediately his ankle bones received strength.

Peter understood what the man needed more than money was the encouragement. It would've been too simple to give the man money. What the man needed was spiritual food.

Afterward, the scripture goes on to say how the once lame man walked and leaped into the temple praising God, and all those who seen him were amazed.

Praising God is the key that opens all doors. God wants the glory for fixing you. Only He can restore what has been broken to its original state. He holds the blueprints for your design. Nothing brings people closer to God then seeing with their own eyes what God is capable of doing if you put your trust in Him.

Satan:

• kills
• steals
• destroys

God:

• Saves
• heals
• restores

God is waiting to restore what Satan stole from you: Your joy, your peace, your dreams, your purpose.