Purpose Driven Life Video Series
Matilda Equiluz
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Some of the lessons that I have come to learn from applying the principles in the book, "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren, don't always come directly from the book alone. Sometimes, the book itself, and everything that I have read from it forms the foundation that leads to something else later that helps to make sense of everything that is going on in my life.
The topic that I wanted to share about today has it's roots in a very simple concept called "hope". Yet, this simple concept known as "hope" is something that some of us growing up never seem to have experienced.
Growing up as a child, I considered myself blessed that at least I got parents who still loved me and cared about me. I considered myself blessed that I already understood the idea of hope long before I knew its meaning.
When we have hope in our lives, it is usually because we are hanging to some kind of belief that something better is going to happen in our lives. Hope is the one thing that keeps us going when we have nothing else to fall back upon.
I want to share about something in my life that's real. (This is also something that I've decided to do in recent times when I made the decision to become an authentic influencer rather than faking it online to garner likes and followers for the sake of it.)
4 years ago, when I made the decision to following my passions in life, and to also seek out my purpose in life, I left my full-time career behind and took a leap of faith. What some people will never know is that I already had approximately S$75,000 in debt from my maxed out credit cards as well as bank loans. Over the last 4 years of my journey, that debt has since increased to just over S$100,000 (to those that have helped me along the way). To be exact, the figure is now standing at about S$106,500.
Frankly, I have to give God thanks for His grace and mercy throughout this grueling journey. Honestly, if not for the hope that He has given me for a better future, I would honestly have given up a long time ago.
I've heard many stories about people who had only about $30,000 of debt, and they would end up taking their own lives by choosing to jump off the building. Reason, probably because they couldn't deal with the pressure that the debt has created.
I mean, I had depression when I was a youth, and I did share that thought once. But now that I am much older, and definitely wiser, I can't think of any valid reason for why someone would want to take their own lives because of a debt.
Sure, I'm definitely feeling quite stressed-out on some days, trying to battle between the idea of staying on course with following my passions, or to give it up because I have a 6-figure debt that I need to resolve.
Many friends, even relatives and family members felt that I should've given up on my pursuit of happyness because my reality is a more pressing matter and priority than to live out my purpose in life.
I think one of the most important lessons I have learned on this journey of discovering my purpose in life - is that, it teaches me the difference between having a short-term motivation and having a long-term one.
Short-term motivations is something that we set for ourselves so that we will be motivated towards achieving a particular goal that we can see in the near future. Short-term motivations can be anything from the desire to finish your homework so that you can catch up on the next (two) episodes of Game of Thrones to something like buying yourself that $5,000 watch when you manage close your first major business deal.
Short-term motivations are good. And I sincerely encourage you to have short-term motivations in your life, they are one of the important reasons that keeps us going while we are working towards something more long-term.
I think it's time for the most important part of today's lesson. While short-term motivations might be good to help us get to the next goal on our list, having many short-term goals in life doesn't necessarily mean that we are heading in the right direction.
Don't get me wrong though. Finding a way to work off my debts is still a really important priority to me, but so is finding a way to fulfil my purpose and mission in life. Trying to find that balance between the two is still something that I am currently working on. It's not as easy as it might seem. Truly, it is actually quite complicated from where I stand.
But it is however clear to me what I need to do in my current situation. Though finding a full-time career will put me in conflicts with my commitment to my purpose and mission in life, not having an income (however little) is also not an answer to my problems.
The balance here, from where I stand, is to find part-time gigs, something a bit more permanent (long-term). It doesn't even have to pay much. Just a few hundred dollars a month would be nice. On top of that, I would need to building myself up with a steady stream of freelance consulting gigs. It will not be as consistent or steady as the part-time gigs, but it will pay more and better over a period of a few months. By managing both options in parallel, I would have sufficient to survive, while also having enough to gradually work off my debts.
Pastor Rick asks the question, "What on earth am I here for?", and teaches a blueprint for Christian living based on God's eternal purposes in this series taught at the release of his book, The Purpose Driven Life. Included is a message on each of God's five purposes, and a celebration message.
40 Days of Purpose campaign, taught by Pastor Rick Warren who asks the question, "What on earth am I here for?", and teaches a blueprint for Christian living based on God's eternal purposes in this series taught at the release of his book, The Purpose Driven Life. Included is one message on each of God's five purposes, and a celebration message.
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