Deliberate Purpose

What’s your mission? Sometimes it’s so easy to get distracted from it, isn’t it? I want you to take a second before we begin and think about what your mission is and what has you distracted from it.  


As a wife and a homeschool mom of three youngin’s (Oskar 4.5, Mischa 3 and Henry 1.5), I have an obvious purpose in life: to love the Lord with all my heart, to love my husband as the head of our home and raise the children to the best of my ability, teaching them to love the Lord and educate them so they can have an opportunity for college or university.  However, sometimes, other things get most of my attention and energy which leaves my children, husband and God to get the me that’s leftover. It’s so easy for me to be on fire about the missions in the world and how I can go make disciples of all nations but forget the mission in my own home.


The last year or so God has been trying to re-focus me. This is the hard place for me because it requires selflessness, a trait I sadly lack.  You see, I have dreams… BIG dreams, dreams to fulfill, “Go and make disciples of all nations!” sort of dreams.  Dreams of fruitful ministry- writing a book, managing an orphanage, planting a church with my husband, missions somewhere overseas in a country much different than ours, womens’ conferences, hands and feet sort of things...I could go on.  I have had dreams pass and others that are just stuck in my mind, part of my being, the very things that make my heart sing and dance.  I have an immense desire to help women embrace sanctification… seeing the beauty of His pruning and the holiness that is produced, I cry when people kneel before the King and cry out in humility and surrender and repent their sins to the Holy God, I have a deep passion for the Word and all that is said in it, wanting it to be understood well and help others to love it.


These dreams are all good. This love in my heart for others to know Jesus and submit all they are to Him is a desire that could only come from Him.


BUT. What happens when the dreams in your heart aren’t for right now? What happens when the things that seem to bring you the most joy and satisfaction are for years from now? What if you have to focus on the now- the calling God has placed on your life right now and forget, at least for now, the dreams in your heart?  Oh yeah… that... that’s hard. Trust me.  But God who is so gracious and loving doesn’t leave you in despair of these precious loves if they’re from Him… instead, He prepares you for them.


See, God is preparing me right now- with a husband who works plentiful hours and has ministry commitments. When I go about my business, I tend to be selfish and lack the desire to serve my husband. But when I stay on mission and see my husband through God’s eyes, I have more desire to be purposeful in loving him.


With 3 young children who test every ounce of patience I could possibly have, whine to get their way, hit each other, make unbelievable messes (sometimes with jam!)(I now let my 4 year old make his own pb sandwiches for breakfast on his own accord)...  Did I mention my husband wakes up at 4 am and my kids at 6 and many nights I’m still up 2-4 times a night (YES my children have sleep issues which is totally my fault!), I started homeschooling my 4 year old last year, my husband’s family lives 4.5 hours away and mine 8 hours away… SO I HAVE NO HELP!! Did I mention we just got over the flu in which my daughter was hospitalized overnight with an IV for dehydration and my youngest son vomited FIVE days in a row? Who does that besides a fatigued pregnant woman in her first trimester?!?  Anyway (breather), my point is… God gave me three lovely :) children to raise to know Him, love Him and build His kingdom- after all, that’s what “be fruitful and multiply” means from Genesis, right?  But sometimes, ok- often, after the spills and the early mornings with interrupted sleep, the homeschooling, the diapers… I just have a hard time feeling like I’m doing anything... fruitful.



It’s always easy to think how much greater life will be once you get to do what you have always dreamed of doing. But friends, please don’t be fooled. If I can’t love my husband well, how in the world would I love children in an orphanage well? If I am not diligent in raising my children to love Jesus, then how do I expect to lead a congregation to do it? God is showing you grace by giving you what you have right now, where you are.


When you put your dreams before the very people in front of you, they get the you that’s leftover. You’re too busy wishing the next, the move, the job, the mission, that you’re missing the very mission that God has ordained for you to do! It’s training ground and YES it may seem unexciting compared to the person who sells all their possessions and moves to a little village in some unknown village in the mountains, but if you’re doing God’s will for you, then you’re in the perfect place.


What if he’s asking you to do the ordinary right now? Can you do that? Will you be patient in this place with me? Will you do your best with what God is giving you right now? If you can be faithful in this, you may just get an opportunity to be faithful in the things your heart dreams of.


~Leanne Reichhoff