What on Earth Are You Here For? Discovering Your God-Given Purpose

What on earth are you here for? That seemingly simple question has profound implications for every woman of faith seeking to understand her divine calling. My personal journey began in 2019 when I felt God urging me to leave a job I loved without clearly revealing what was next. The fear was overwhelming—stepping from security into uncertainty, from the familiar into the unknown—yet something deeper pulled me toward obedience.

Through prayer and guidance from a life coach, I discovered my purpose centered around impacting women by sharing my own story of divorce, childhood trauma, and struggles with confidence. The very pain I wanted to hide became the foundation of my ministry. This revelation didn't come easily; it required overcoming my resistance to being stretched beyond comfort and accepting that God's plans didn't match my preconceived notions.

Finding your purpose begins with specific questions: What brings you joy? What problems do you naturally solve? Where has God positioned you right now? Sometimes your calling isn't about leaving your current situation—God may want to use you exactly where you are, in your family, workplace, or community. Other times, He calls you to step out, acquire new skills, and face financial or personal costs you never anticipated.

My five-year journey walking in purpose hasn't been easy. There have been days I wanted to abandon everything, yet each time I chose obedience, God provided support through unexpected people and opportunities. The underpinning truth remains: "All things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Your mess can become a message, your test a testimony, but only if you're willing to pay the price of obedience. Are you ready to discover what God has uniquely designed you to do?

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 0:50 Leaving the Known for the Unknown
• 5:13 Discovering Your True Purpose
• 9:11 Using Pain as a Pathway
• 13:03 Where Are You Positioned Now?
• 16:13 The Cost of Walking in Purpose
• 19:28 Closing Prayer and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everyone, welcome. Thank you for joining us today on our Positioned for Purpose Conversations with Colette Marie podcast. I'm your host, colette Marie. Yes, our podcast is for women of faith who struggle to see God in the places of pain and hardship and who need a reminder, a gentle reminder, that, right where you are, god will use you In the mess, in the hardships, in your most challenging times, in your heartaches and in your pain. God has a greater plan for your story. Romans 8, 28 states, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Have you ever asked yourself the question what on earth am I here for? What has God called me to do? Hmm, if you've ever asked yourself that question, well, today's conversation is for you. Hi, I'm Colette, and welcome back to another episode of Positioned for Purpose Conversations with Colette Marie. If this is your first time, welcome and thank you for joining. If you have been supporting me for a while, thank you always for your continued support.

Speaker 1: 1:28

As I reflect on my own journey of wanting to know what my purpose is and what God has called me to do, I can't help but look back right at 2019, when I made that step and if you've listened to my previous episodes, when I talk about my journey to walking out my purpose, you would have heard me shared about this feeling for a number of years that God has called me to do more than what I was doing. I was working at an organization that I loved and I felt that the Lord was saying it was time to go, and I kept putting it off. I kept finding different reasons why I should be staying and, especially because I wasn't sure what the living was, I thought it was to get another job. I tried applications after applications absolutely nothing, crickets, they see. And I remember on the last day of December my last working day, december 13th 2019, when I made that final step and I left not knowing I was going, not sure where the path would be taking me, but just wanted to be obedient to what God was saying to me. My that journey was definitely not easy.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Imagine leaving the known for the unknown, the comfortable for the uncomfortable people who you know and like and trust and know. You're going out not sure where the journey is, but just wanting to be obedient. And guys, that's how I was feeling wanting to be obedient, but there was a lot of fear, can I tell you. Yes, I I was fearful. I was wondering God was going to be next. Remember, I said I was applying for jobs. Nothing was coming, nothing was going.

Speaker 1: 3:32

But let me go back a little. I remember my boss then introducing me to someone who she says is a great coach and she'll be able to help you to understand what's happening and where you want to go. And this is a little sideways, depending on your relationship that you have with your boss, that's something that you could talk to them about. I felt comfortable talking to her about it. So when the time came for me to go, she understood why I had to go and I remember talking with my coach at the time and she said to me Colette, you impact the lives of women. Because she asked me some questions and I was able to choose for the answer. I did not think about them. I didn't have to pause and wonder why the answers came.

Speaker 1: 4:22

And when she said that it sat me, it resonated with me because I knew that to be true. I knew that I had spent my years, I would have led women's ministry before. I would always have an opportunity to speak with women, to share my story. It just didn't know that God was now calling me, on a different scale, to serve them like this. And so, when she told me that, I realized that this was actually the path that God was calling me to, but guess what? I did not know exactly what it is that I needed to do. I didn't know exactly what it is that I needed to do, and so, as I delved deep into that and was saying, lord, what is it that you're calling me to do? I know you said yes to the woman, but how do I serve them? How do I serve them, lord? How do I make a difference? What exactly is it that you're calling me to do? So remember, fast forward.

Speaker 1: 5:25

I realized that God wanted me To be there to talk to women about what I have been through, to share my story, my lack of confidence, how that shaped who I am, who I was, how that shaped the decisions that I made, and how that affected me speaking up, how it affected my voice, because I did not want to show up. Yes, the conversation is still about finding purpose. And so, when he said that to me, I realized that, yes, this is part of what God has called me to do. I had to be willing to share my story, I had to be willing to open up. But here where it started this discovering your purpose it starts by prayerfully asking the Lord Father, what have you called me here to do? How have you called me to impact the lives of others? In what way do you need me to show up? And as you prayerfully go to him, he is going to respond.

Speaker 1: 6:31

But we have to be willing to listen, to hear what he is saying, because sometimes what he's saying to us is not what we want to hear and because we don't want to hear that. Then what do we do? Do we dismiss the thoughts and say that's my thoughts or that's the enemy that is speaking to me? I don't want to hear that because, guess what? We have a preconceived notion of what we want, and what we want is not what is aligning with god's will for our lives. Did you you hear that? I hope you did, because what we want does not align with God's will for our lives. We want to press ahead and do our own thing, and our own thing is because it's comfortable to us, it's because it's what we know. No-transcript, we don't like the stretching at all, because the stretching is taking us out of our comfort zone. It's taking us into places that we really don't want to go at all.

Speaker 1: 7:39

Do you think this sounds like someone you're listening to? Yes, that was me. That was me because I was saying God, how can you call me to do this? That was me because I was saying, god, how can you call me to do this? Because in prayer, I realized that, yes, he called me to coach, but not only just to coach. He called me to speak. And sharing our stories is not easy, right. And so I remember and I said Lord, you're calling me to do these things. I don't think I'm equipped to do it at all. This is something new. Yes, I know that I'm talking to women in my one-on-one, but not something on a bigger stage. And yes, I would talk at church. I would, you know, share the word at church and stuff, but that was different. This was no. He's calling me to magnify what I was doing before. And I remember just talking to him and I said Lord, what do you want to do? How do I proceed with this gift that you want to take to another level? And I remember hearing about the John Maxwell team and believing that's where he wanted me to go and that's where I went to get the training that I needed. Where he wanted me to go and that's where I went to get the training that I needed.

Speaker 1: 8:54

So sometimes what God is calling you to do means that you have to learn a new skill, learn to harness what he's given, what he's given you, and it's not always easy. It's going to come at a cost, and when it comes at a cost, we wonder how will God provide? Is this really what he's called me to do? And sometimes we're stuck right there. We get stuck at the cost. We ask ourselves, lord, how will I manage? And then for some people they do not push past that, because when we look at the financial barriers, we don't want to go any further. But I give God thanks for the men and women who's caused to sow into my life and the positions, the, the opportunities that he gave me to also fund this gift. So the next thing is that ask for help. You don't know who God has in store for you to be a destiny helper for you, and so, because you don't know, you have to be willing to step out. You have to be willing to say to him Father, I understand that you want me to go in this particular direction. It's coming at a particular cost and I don't know how to do it. You will have to provide for me and friends, sisters. Can I tell you he will? Yes, he will.

Speaker 1: 10:16

And so what are the things that you like to do? What do you like to do? What? If you could do it, you would spend all day and all night doing it. It brings you great comfort, great joy. You feel a sense of achievement, as if, yes, you've conquered the whole world. What is it? What are the things that brings a smile to your face? So that's another question that you need to ask yourself what problems do you see that you know that you have the solution to that.

Speaker 1: 10:53

When you see it, or when you hear it, thoughts and ideas are going off in your head and you can write out the solution to the problems. That's also a pointer to what you were created for. Look at it, yes, yes, and ask the Lord father, is this it? Is this it? And your father will respond to you, and sometimes he uses the pain that you've been through to be the thing that pushes you into your purpose. I know you might not want to hear that, but it's true because also it's out of my pain that I'm able to share my story A pain of divorce, childhood trauma. I'm able to share my story because I've made some bad choices and some bad things have happened to me. I have to be willing to share that for his glory and for his honor.

Speaker 1: 11:53

Where are you positioned now? What are you doing now? Where is the place that god has you right now? Where are you working? In the ministry or in the marketplace? Because sometimes where you are positioned is where God wants you to serve. Their persons are who you can make an impact in. Whatever areas you're serving could be, from the janitor right up to the CEO don't neglect where you are at. God can use you right there, so it's not all the time he's asking you to step out, like he did to me, to say it's time to get out of the boat and into the water, out of the place of comfort, into the place of uncomfortability, so that you can make an impact. Sometimes he wants to use you right there, but you have to know that, you have to know that, you have to know that, you have to know that and that only comes by asking him in prayer. God, what do you want me to do? Am I in the place where you can use me? Is this place that I am at right now the place that you want me to serve? And if it is Lord, make it plain to me.

Speaker 1: 13:13

The underpinning for my podcast is Romans 8, 28. For we know that all things work together for good To them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Where is the hard place that you've been? What are the hard lessons that you've been? What are the hard lessons that you've learned? How can God use your mess into a message, into a story that will make the difference in someone else's life? It's not always on a big stage. It's maybe right where you are, in your family, in your community, in your church, in your organization. But it's the willingness to start right where you are and the obedience to move, knowing that when you move, when you make a step, god lights your path as you go along. When you make a step, you know that God is with you every step of the way. When it seems as if he's silent, god is there with you. Can I share something with you? My journey, and it's now five years walking this walk of faith, walking in purpose and and it's hard some days, it's very hard I feel like walking away and stepping away and even though, as I contemplating, doing something else to make sure that I stay in alignment to what God has called me to do. It is not easy, but guess what I've chosen to do? I've chosen still to be obedient. I've chosen still to be what God has called me to be, to do what God has called me to do.

Speaker 1: 15:02

A woman on a mission to impact the lives of other women, to say use your voice, to ask you the question what stole your confidence? To say to you your voice has power, use it, use it. And as I reflect on this, five years of really just seeing God, how he has shown up, has shown up in times when I felt so down. He sent women, men and women, to remind me, to hold the fort that they are praying for me. He sent women who have recommended me to other opportunities for me, and God will do the same for you.

Speaker 1: 15:47

But it takes a willingness, a willingness to move, a willingness to do, a willingness to be. That's what it takes, but are you willing to pay the price Because it's going to cost you something. It's going to cost you something. Are you willing to pay the price? Are you to say God, here I am, use me for your glory and for your honor. Are you willing to do that? If you are, god is coming alongside you and he is going to make the path plain before you. It doesn't mean that he's gonna tell you that you're going to go from point A and when you get to point A, this is what is going to happen.

Speaker 1: 16:35

No, it requires trust on your path, trust to make the move, trust to believe him, trust to every day, take him at his word that he will not leave you, he will not forsake you, and that his plans for you are good and they are going to accomplish his will, his purpose for your life. What on earth are you created for? I pray that if you don't already know that, that's the question that you'll be asking today and we will go through prayerfully asking the Lord how can I know what you've called me to Do? A check of yourself. Look at what you love to do, what brings you great joy, accomplishment and comfort. Also, look at the problems. What problems can you solve? That when you see them, you know you have the solutions to. And the next thing where are you positioned right now? No-transcript. Those are the questions that I pray that you'll ask, and I pray that God will minister to you and that you will be open to hear what he has to say.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Blessings, let us pray, lord. I pray for my sister right now. You know, lord, god, where her struggles are, whether she knows what her purpose is or struggling to find out what it is. I pray, god, that you will minister to her struggling to find out what it is. I pray, god, that you will minister to her. I pray that, as she speaks to you, almighty God, that you will, lord, send your response to her in your word and that you will, lord, god, that you will, lord, I pray in the name of Jesus, confirm your word to her, lord.

Speaker 1: 18:19

I pray that you will bless her abundantly, almighty God, and I pray, god, for someone who is struggling to walk in their purpose because of the cost, almighty God, I pray that you will provide. I pray that you will open doors. Almighty God, I thank you for her obedience, oh God, to do that which you have called her to do. I pray, spirit of the living God, that you, who are no man's debt debtor. As she walks and as she moves in purpose, almighty God, that, lord, god, you will provide for her. You make ways where there seem to be no way for her. I thank you for her obedience and I thank you for the call you have on her life and the lives that she will be impacting because of her obedience to you. I give you thanks, father. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen and amen.

Speaker 1: 19:06

My sister, if you found this podcast helpful and if you see it as beneficial to someone else, would you consider sharing with someone else? And if it was a blessing to you, someone else, and if it was a blessing to you, would you consider leaving a review on apple podcast? And also, if you find this a whole blessing, I pray that you will consider uh supporting this ministry. Have a blessed day and see you next time. On positioned for purpose conversations with colette marie. Us conversations with Colette Marie.