RTR Episode 6: Learning to Trust Your Calling and Finding Your Purpose One Step at a Time

Kimm:

This is Rooted to Rise, and I'm Kimberly Rash, and I'm so glad you're here today. Let's talk about this for a minute. Let's talk about removing pressure around finding your purpose. Let's talk about reconnecting to yourself. What is alignment versus chasing?

And maybe a little of experience of mine here and there to help you guys see that we all walk through these things. It's all of us. You're not alone. I think a lot of us spend so much time trying to figure out our purpose, like it's something outside of us that we have to go find. We'll just wake up one day and be like, "Boom, that's my purpose."

And don't get me wrong, I have seen that happen and amazing for them. Like, that's, that's awesome. But the majority of us, we don't have that luxury. That's not how it really happens. So what if it doesn't look like that? What if we don't get the poof, all of a sudden I know who I am and what I need to do?

What if your purpose isn't something you find, but it's something you're coming back to? Something that was innately put in you long before you walked away from it, and I'm not saying you even knew it was there. Something that's been there underneath all the noise, underneath all your expectations from people, underneath who you thought you were supposed to be.

And maybe the reason it feels so hard to figure it out isn't because you don't have one, but because you're disconnected from it. So today, I wanna talk to you about what it actually looks like to come back into alignment, to come back to yourself and start trusting what's already in you, what God has planned with a purpose in you.

I guess we should just talk about really that purpose doesn't have to be one big thing, right? It's your sole purpose on earth. Let's just say you knew one day you wanted to be a nurse. Since you were two years old, your soul's purpose on this life was gonna go be a nurse. It doesn't mean being a nurse was your only purpose.

Maybe it was about you being a nurturer to others outside of nursing. Maybe it was about being able to critically think in situations, and that was a purpose. You could end up having like the big sign, "I wanna be a nurse," but along the line, the characteristics that you possess are all part of your purpose.

The tools in which make you the best nurse are the tools that are actually really your purpose. Nursing's just your conduit that you choose, that you want to use. All the things that God has placed inside of you, all the things that innately are you at your core, are already there. You just need to learn to pick 'em up and start using them again, and figuring out what that looks like for your purpose, what that looks like.

It evolves with the seasons of our lives. I can tell you the purpose of my life right now is not the purpose that my life was when I was 20. It definitely was not the purpose of my life when I was 13. And you innately will walk through things that help round out your purpose. In our life, we come up against strife, we come up against hard situations, complex situations, things that we actually have to walk through.

Hard times, even joyous times. And you take away something from every single one of those things. You take something away, a lesson, a capability within yourself that you didn't know that you had before. Maybe you learned resiliency, maybe you learned empathy, maybe you learned how just to be stronger, maybe to have a more open heart.

There's so many things that we learn in each and every instance that actually helps build the character in us that helps us find our purpose. Seasons are great because you learn through the seasons. Seasons of being a student, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother, a career woman, now a grandmother.

These things, all the seasons, there's something to be learned in every part of your life. And I feel like there's parts that are just, if we allow it, nurtured in each and every single part of those cycles that help us build our confidence, that help us find our purpose. It's not one decision. It's how you show up over time, over and over and over and over again in every situation.

That becomes your purpose. I know that alignment can feel like... I wanna say alignment. I like alignment. In some circles, that word does not resonate well, so let's just say your purpose. And I feel like finding your purpose is peace, even when you're unsure. That's how you know you are going out toward the purpose that actually best serves you.

That when you find peace that passes understanding, when there's no wiggly weirdo thing in your belly making you feel like you're making the wrong decision. You can be nervous, but there's a difference between being nervous and knowing something's not right. I do encourage everyone to really pray for discernment, to really learn to listen to your body, because we are given signals by our Creator that help us along the way, and you should learn to identify those so that way you can walk more in alignment, more in your purpose, and find clarity in the small steps, not forcing everything.

You can try things, but if it doesn't fit, stop trying to put a circle in a square. Like, if it's not fitting, don't make it fit. If it's supposed to fit, it will, and it'll just pop right in there, and you're gonna be like, "Wow, this feels right." All of a sudden something's just gonna feel natural.

Misalignment or walking off of your purpose or off of your path or off of what God has for you, what that looks like is something that should be giving you pleasure feels like pressure. Something that's supposed to bring you joy feels like confusion. Something that feels like it should just flow so easily feels like constant resistance.

And you know if you pay attention to the way your body feels, to the signals inside of yourself in your quiet time, in your meditating, in your prayer time, in your worship, whatever that looks like, listen. Listen. Listen to yourself. It doesn't have to always feel easy, but it will always feel true. It will always feel true.

And once we get out of our own heads, and so you get out of the uneasy part of it, it's all just gonna start coming together. It's all just gonna flow. You just gotta get over yourself and just understand — that just because you may want something doesn't mean that is what it's supposed to be. So maybe you love fashion design and you're like, "I'm gonna be a fashion designer.

Look at me, I'm such a wonderful fashion designer," but you can't freaking sew. You can't sew, so maybe you're a fashion designer in the essence where maybe you're just a drawer, but someone else is going to work with you on the fashion design unless you go take a class and learn how to sew. You can't will your way into being something without having the skills to be able to do it.

So that's kind of forcing your purpose. Something like that. Or like for me, and I know I'm probably gonna get backlash about this, I am not a fan. It innately really rubs me the wrong way when people who can't sing, literally can't sing, like you can barely stay on key and some people are just born tone deaf.

They don't innately have a singer's voice. And listen, mine is not the best of all voices, but I can stay on tune. I can sing harmony. I know when I'm off. I know when it's wrong. But if you put someone out there to sing, especially in my world for a long time in the church, to let's say lead worship, and the person can't carry a tune, the people who are listening are not worshiping with you.

They're critiquing you from a seat.

And they're more worried about the way that sounds than the actual experience and essence of being able to be close to your Father by singing. That person thinks that's their thing, right? That's their purpose. They're supposed to be a singer. You can't, again, make circles fit in squares.

Just 'cause you want it doesn't mean it's actually supposed to be. If you can't sing, maybe you're supposed to be really good at an instrument or maybe participating in other ways. Singing and it sounds like a back alley cat fight, that is not, I promise you, that's not your purpose.

I promise you. I know you have one. Everyone has one. And sometimes you're gonna figure it out in your 20s, sometimes you're gonna figure it out in your 30s, sometimes you're gonna figure it out when you're 50, 60, 70. Who knows? But it's gonna be when you're ready to do it, because I don't think our purpose comes until we are ready and secure in who we are.

And in the interim, all the seasons of our life are just building us up to be that person for when you're ready. And I think we delay our own readiness because we just can't get out of our own way. And that happens all the time. You really just have to start thinking back and just take a minute just say, "Okay, you know what?

What feels true for me right now?" We're gonna root in it. We're just gonna root in it. We're gonna say, "What feels true for me right now in my purpose? What do I truly think it is? What are parts of me I know are part of my purpose?" And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna go in and we're gonna release and we're gonna let go of expectations, shoulds, shoulda, woulda, coulda.

We're also just gonna get rid of that outside pressure from people because they don't actually have to walk the walk that you walk. Just because they want it to be your purpose, they're not the ones doing it. So you can tell them to blow smoke, release it, and let it go. And then follow the nudge.

Rise. Rise into your purpose one little small step at a time. Take the step that feels aligned, even if it's small. And I encourage you in the next 24 hours to do that. I encourage you to maybe start a journal, a purpose journal, something that you just write and you sit there and say, "You know what? I feel these are my strengths.

I feel like my purpose is in helping people by helping, that could be anything. You could be a mover of people's stuff. You could be a salesgirl at a store that makes women feel really good about themselves, helping them choose the right outfit. Your purpose could be encouragement. Just being a helper.

It's not always, but not everyone is a leader, right? So whatever your purpose is. You're a comforter. You bring families food when they have times of trouble, say they've had a death in their family. You find your purpose. You're the comforter. There is a purpose and a plan for every single person. So let's all get out of our own way and just start doing the steps.

One step, write it down. What is your purpose? Even better yet, list what you think your purpose is and then list three things you know are your strengths. I'm on time. I'm organized. I'm boisterous. I'm stubborn. Because sometimes the things that some people call negative are actually positives. Write them down.

Follow the nudge. Take the step that feels aligned. Just do it. Root, release, and rise.

What is the one thing in your life right now that feels true but you're ignoring it? Is there something that kind of keeps coming up over and over and over again? For me, the one thing I kept getting told over and over and over again in my life was that your voice and your hands are going to heal people.

And I can tell you 1,400 ways that I tried to figure out what that was. And I had it on a little cassette tape. It was spoken over me at church. That was the first time. That's not the last time, but it was the first time. And the pastor pulled me up in front of everybody. Very embarrassing. He said, your hands are going to heal people and your voice is going to heal people. And I was like, okay, well, I know a little sign language and I do sing. So maybe I will help people, you know, increase their faith by me being able to like sing at church and maybe interpret for people.

Then I thought because I played the piano, like maybe I will learn to write music that will help change the world. Maybe I'll sing too. Maybe that will be that. Then other people have come up to me and said other things in my lifetime. And they're like, you're an encourager. You're a teacher.

Why are you not teaching? Why are you not leading women? Why are you not doing the things that you're supposed to do? And quite frankly, because I did not feel qualified, I did not move. And that's okay. Because here I am today. And slowly but surely, one step at a time, I'm finding my plan, my purpose, and I'm trying to walk it out as boldly as I can and as confidently as I can, having no idea what I'm doing when it comes to any of this.

But I have the faith to know that God has a plan and a purpose for me. And that's all that really, really matters.

So in closing, you don't have to have your whole life figured out. You don't need a perfect plan, and you don't need to chase something that was never meant to feel forced. Your purpose, your alignment, your calling, it's not outside of you. It's in the quiet moments. It's in the direction of your heart. The more you listen, the more clear it's gonna become. Not all at once, but one step at a time. You are not lost. You are learning how to listen. You are not stuck. You are becoming. Root, release, and rise. Thank you for joining me today, and I'll see you in the next episode.