The Hearts Hello

Returning to Purpose

• Keona T. Ellerbe • Season 2 • Episode 49

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A whisper from God led me to dust off a book I'd written a decade ago—"Bless Yourself Chronicles: 10 Steps to Breathe Life into your Redesign." Little did I know when penning those words that they would become the very blueprint I'd need to navigate the tumultuous decade ahead.

Tears streamed down my face as I flipped through pages written by a woman who had no idea she was about to face bankruptcy, divorce, and job loss. Yet somehow, she had already crafted the guidance her future self would desperately need. What struck me wasn't the perfection of the writing (the book went out with minimal editing after an editor failed to deliver), but the evidence that even before life's storms hit, my purpose was already alive and speaking.

This powerful revelation challenged everything I thought about purpose and timing. So many of us feel behind or forgotten when life takes unexpected turns. We shelve dreams, abandon projects, and convince ourselves we've missed our moment. But what if that's not true? What if your purpose doesn't expire but rather matures as you do? What if that journal, business concept, or creative project you set aside years ago wasn't abandoned but was simply waiting for you to grow into it?

Your past work might contain exactly the wisdom, insight, and direction you need for this current season. Even more importantly, it might hold the very message someone else desperately needs to hear. Don't sit on what God has called you to share—someone is waiting for your story, your experience, your breath of "yes" to help them navigate their journey.

This week, I challenge you to elevate your purpose by returning to what you thought was finished. That creation wasn't just for then—it might be the key to your next chapter of growth. Send me a DM @thehartshello if this resonates with you. I want to celebrate what you're rediscovering because we're on this journey together.

Speaker 1:

All right. So we are in a new month and this month's theme is Elevate your Purpose. But here's the big thing about elevation it's not always loud, it's not always bright lights and applause. Sometimes, elevation is recognition, it's remembering, it's returning, and that's exactly what happened to me last week, y'all, let me tell you. So. I was sitting with God asking for directions and I heard a whisper.

Speaker 1:

Not a new idea, not a brand new vision, but a reminder to go back and look at the book that I wrote 10 years ago. See, the book that I wrote 10 years ago is titled Bless Yourself Chronicles 10 Steps to Breathe Life into your Redesign. Now, I'm going to pause right there, and for those newbies who are just joining this journey that we're on, you'll be like, well, why'd you pause? But for the old timers, those who have been with me for almost two years, you know exactly why that hit me like a ton of bricks. Because the last 10 years have been a complete roller coaster in my life. And who would have thought that being obedient to an assignment to write a book 10 years ago would be the actual blueprint that I needed in order to get through the next 10 years? See, in the next 10 years after I wrote that book, there had been bankruptcy, there had been divorce, there had been all of this shame and guilt, even just being around the whole divorce piece of it. It was the hardness on my children for what was transpiring with their dad and I. And then the layoff. And so to go through those 10 years and to have written a blueprint on how to redesign my life oh, my God, you are funny. How did I get here? And at first it was you were obedient to a call, and the call was for you to write a book. But now I'm in a space where that call allowed me the ability to learn. It allowed me the ability to go through life, through a journey, with a different lens that going through it you don't necessarily see. And that's the good thing about lessons, right? It's because you don't get a chance to actually review the test that you've passed until you've actually passed the test. I'll say that again, just like when we were in school, they may give you your test back after you have already taken it. The same thing happens with life. When you have gone through the test, you have the opportunity to see how well you've done or the areas in which you need to improve, journey of who I was then to who I am now, even just with my whole stance and movement on being. It's like you had to redesign in order to become this version of you, and now I have a different lens, now I have a different perspective, even on the book. So, wink, wink, something different Good is getting ready to come from that.

Speaker 1:

But anyway, when I opened it, you all, it hit me. Tears streamed. Of course, not because that book was perfectly written, and that's a whole nother story, because the person that I actually sent that book off to to get it edited sent me back the book with no edits, but I had already paid for it at that point. So what was I going to do? Was I just going to sit on this book that I knew that I was supposed to release? No, I did the edits, the best that I could, and then I pushed it out. So, yeah, this book was not perfectly written, but it allowed me to be able to see me. When I opened it, see, I saw the me that was already speaking life before I even knew what I had to live through. See, that book was evidence, it was proof that, even when I didn't know exactly who I was becoming, I was already walking in purpose.

Speaker 1:

So I want to encourage you when God gives you a nudge to do something, you may not understand it fully. He is not going to give you the full blueprint of what it is that he wants you to do, but he does want you to take the first step. And so sometimes we get to a place where we're like, okay, well, I've taken all of these steps and I have yet to see the fruit. But if you would just hold on for a minute, see, this is 10 years coming. So when people get up and they're talking about you know, oh, I have been a coach in this space. Or oh, I, I'm qualified to do this. Not only am I a coach in this space, and, yes, I am also qualified to talk about it because it was my life.

Speaker 1:

So I don't just get up here and talk about things that I have not already lived through. I don't just get up here and talk to you all about the things that I am not currently doing in my life. See, the business that I had 10 years ago was called Redesign of you, and the tagline that I would always say is as I am redesigning you, I am also redesigning me too. Same thing applies in this business, same thing applies in anything that I do. I never get to a point where I think I know it all, because if you get to a place where you feel like you have grown too much, you're in trouble. You should always be in a place of learning. Okay, so I went off on a tangent, real quick, right, but let me get back on track. So see, sometimes we think that purpose has to be forward motion, we think that it's the next big thing, the next big launch, but sometimes the elevation comes in the return.

Speaker 1:

So, in picking up something that we may have put down, not because it wasn't good, but because we didn't yet know the weight of our own voice, see, I didn't shelve that book. I didn't realize its significance until now. So could I have kept pushing and pushing and pushing it out, absolutely. But what if it was meant for me to write that book, to push it out, then to share it, to do my speaking engagements, to do my events and all of those things then, and then to take a pause? Because what I didn't realize was that I was going to have to use that book as my blueprint to get through the next 10 years, and so, reading it now, it almost feels like a love letter from my past self to my current season, like I wrote it then for who I am now. See, that's purpose, purpose doesn't expire. It waits, it matures, it becomes fuller as we become fuller. So I need you to understand that.

Speaker 1:

If you have ever felt behind in life, hear me clearly. I want to speak to you right now because you are not behind, you are not forgotten, you are not out of alignment just because life took a detour. What if the thing that you think you missed is still yours? What if the door is still open? What if your past work was a seed and this is the season it blooms? See, god reminded me that I didn't miss anything. I didn't miss a thing, y'all. I just needed to remember.

Speaker 1:

And sometimes that's all that it takes. See, most of the time people get to a place and this is why you have a testimony, and it's because you're supposed to share what you have already been through. What if your breath is the yes that someone else needs? The yes for them to walk in their purpose, the yes for them to realize that they can get through, the yes for them to get to their next, but you are so afraid of being who you are. And for you to tell your story of what you have already gotten through. Because guess what, baby, somebody is right where you have been. And what if you are the person to help them get through? Just like when you were struggling and fighting and trying to find the version of you? What if you had someone that held out their hand and said, let me help you? What if someone was holding onto the breath the very word that it was that you needed, but was afraid to speak up, and so it prolonged how long it was going to take you to get through what it was that you were going through? Do not let that be. You Do not sit on what it is that God has told you to do, because someone is waiting on you.

Speaker 1:

So I need you to do a heart check this week. Is there something that you created, wrote, dreamed about or even buried that still holds truth for where you're going? Because I need you to go find it. The journal, the notebook, the voice memo, the idea that made your soul light up before life got loud. This, this right here, as you're listening to my voice is your sound to revisit it Because, like me, you might discover that what you once released is the very thing meant to elevate your next chapter. Do you hear me? And do you hear me clearly?

Speaker 1:

Purpose isn't just in what you do, it's in what we remember. It's in what we choose to return to. So this week, I challenge you to elevate your purpose by going back to what you thought was done. What you might find is that it was never over. It was just waiting for you to grow into it. So, if this resonated with you, send me a DM, tag me at the hearts hello, and let me know what you're rediscovering. I want to celebrate with you because we're on this journey together and I need you to share this podcast. Now's the time. Send it to a friend who needs to be reminded that their purpose is still alive. Until next time.