12 What You Were Made For (Guest Post)

Hello, friends! I'm currently enjoying the beautiful mountains of Colorado, but I'm so excited to introduce you to one of my best friends, Emily MacD! Check out her blogs The Thought Spot and her daily photo project - you won't regret it.

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Hey ya'll! How's it going? 

Emily here, filling in with a post for Kelli while she's off vacationing with her hubby! 

Honored to be posting a tidbit for all ya'll :) 

So I'm curious - have you found what you were made to do in life?

It can take some time and be a while before you find it....

Sometimes you get confused by what you want to be made for and things just get messy. 

I think a lot of times it changes based on where God has you or your current season... but ultimately there is a specific reason you're on this earth. Once it's revealed to you – your life changes forever!

I used to want to work with teenagers [most who know me now, would find that crazy]. Eventually I found I just wanted to be that cool youth leader, because I actually have a really hard time working with teenagers when I'm put in the situation. Not that you can't be called to do something you're not good at at first.... but I think there are certain things you're bad at for a reason. Haha. 

Teen ministry is not my niche. It's not my calling. But I remember very clearly thinking it was. I even did some teen ministry right out of high school and it was great, but God quickly showed me that it wasn't what He made me for.

I was made to love on kids and my husband!

Everything about me comes to life when I'm interacting, serving, hanging out with, loving on, talking to, giggling with, hugging, getting to know, and simply being with munchkins and my sweetheart! 

my love

my babies & me

It's kind of cool how God tied both my callings together. I met my husband through the ministry that God used to show me my calling in loving on children. After graduating high school, I went on my first mission trip to Nashville, Tennessee. It's funny how a trip just a few hours away from my hometown in Indiana, changed my life completely! I was setting out to work at Cottage Cove to love on little children in the inner city.... something I had never really done before, but found myself immediately falling in love with! Barry [my sweetheart] was one of the staff members at the ministry. He was cute, but I was too caught up in the kids to really give him a second thought. Who knew a month later he'd be mine and we'd start long distance dating, all the while figuring out what we wanted to do in life together [I'll get to that]. 

my sweetheart

I fell in love with Barry while falling in love with what God ultimately wanted me to dedicate my life to! And nothing makes my heart beat more than loving my husband and living my calling to love on kids with him [because it's his calling too – how cool is that]! 

The fact that I get to have both in my life completely blows my mind! 

little men

Today I'm the Program Director at the same after school ministry Cottage Cove. Our program runs a free program for the kids in a very low income neighborhood, here in southern Nashville. We typically have 50-75 little kiddies running around – most of them in elementary school. We have the privilege of helping kids advance in their schooling and life skills while getting to openly share the love of Jesus with them. We also get to play games and run around on our playground with them the rest of the day. Since we're a non-profit ministry we are constantly relying on God to send volunteers and funding our way. It's a pretty cool thing! God always, ALWAYS provides! These little munchkins need so much loving – most of them have parents in jail or out of the picture, get yelled at at home, or possibly don't get enough to eat. We are here to serve them and their families and love them. I couldn't ask for a better job or calling in life. The fact that I get to do it with my husband & we have the same goal of one day opening another location in our neighborhood..... MAN. I am BLESSED!

beautiful girls

my sweet boy Philemon

Even if I have a terrible day and have been beaten down... 

knowing I have those kids and my husband to love me and give love back to. 

Nothing better.

So what makes your heart tick? What lights you up and keeps you going? Have you found it yet? Cause you ought to! Start asking God what it is... start jumping into things that you're maybe scared to do, start paying attention to what gives you the most joy in life and you'll find it! 

You won't regret it – even if it isn't what you were expecting. 

Once you know what you were created to do, 

your life will be so much more complete and have so much more purpose!! 

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If you'd like to find out more information about Cottage Cove and the ministry they provide to inner-Nashville families, check out CottageCove.org! If you're interested in volunteering or setting up a mission trip with your youth group, email Emily at emily@cottagecove.org. Don't forget to hop over and leave some love at The Thought Spot!