You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
— Psalms 139:13–14
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
— 1 Corinthians 15:10
“What if it’s all on purpose?”
This is the thought I always come back to when I look at the details of my life. And it is a big question. Because how I answer that question creates the context for the rest of my life.
What if my parents were chosen for me, not by chance, but by design? What if I was born in the 1970s, not by chance, but by design? What if I was born male, Hispanic, poor, in Texas, not by chance, but by design? What if the things I experienced, good and bad, frightening and fantastic, were all on purpose? What if I am single with no kids by design?
If I believe that there is a grand architect, then suddenly, all the things that seem to have no eternal context or significance are flooded with purpose. If who I am and what I experience is on purpose, then it is also for a purpose. And that changes everything.
I believe that I am on purpose, that God is the grand architect of my life, and that I am created to accomplish something that will have eternal significance. I believe that is true for you too. Beyond that, I believe that God is for me, not against me. I believe that he is good and is working for the good of all those who love him. Not just me, but all of us.
Because I believe that everything is by design from a benevolent God working out a master plan for our good, I have the strength and courage to do the difficult and beautiful things he asks of me every day. And that gives me peace.